Harry Potter and the Torn Soul
by the Wolf at Bay
Summary: Harry realizes that the only way he can defeat Voldemort is if the Dark Lord takes that which Harry holds most dear. He tricks Voldmort into attacking Ginny. Can he live with the guilt? Can he live without Ginny? major HG ship RHr
1. Chapter 1

CAHPTER 1

This is what happens when you cross magic with the real world, not some authors fucked-up perception of how people really are how they act in hostile situations. Yes this is a remake of Harry Potter and I claim no affiliation with the original author or the original works. This is the story of how I think Harry's seventh and final year should go, and damn anyone who disagrees with me.

It was raining hard at Number Four Privet Drive, it seemed like the weather was always bad nowadays. People had little to be happy about and nature itself seemed to be in a constant state of depression. After all why should anyone be happy with horrible accidents and murders happening every day. Of course one Mr. Harry Potter knew better then to believe the half-hearted explanations about bridges collapsing and trains malfunctioning. He knew the real reason for these horrible events, knew them because he was the solution, in the end only he, the Chosen One, prophesied to face Voldemort and either win or lose.

Harry looked first one way, then the other up the gloomy, rain soaked streets, looking for a car he knew he wouldn't see until it was in the driveway, but looking nonetheless because it made him feel like he was doing something. This was the last time he would ever be this house, the same house where he had been dropped off as a baby, grudgingly adopted by his aunt and uncle, abused, starved, and generally spat-on for nearly all of life.

Fortunately the Minister of Magic still though he could buy Harry's support and was overjoyed at Harry's request for an official car to take him first to the Ministry to take his Apparition test, then to the Burrow for the remainder of the summer. His aunt and uncle were cowering in the living room, scared out of their wits and doubtless remembering the last time a wizard had been in their home, their son Dudley had been left with a giant, four-foot tongue. Dudley himself was nowhere to be found. Harry's stomach jumped along with the rest of him when all of a sudden there was an official looking sedan parked in the driveway and the driver was making his way to the door.

The driver was Stan Shunpike, who Harry had met before when he worked on the Knight bus. "Promoted?" Harry asked. "Yes Mr. Potter, got me a real job now with a nice suit and everything, I'm supposed to take your luggage out." Together they wrestled Harry's school trunk, along with Hedwig's cage, out through the rain and into the surprisingly large trunk of the car. Stan held open the door for Harry who got in feeling awkward, he was hardly used to people holding doors for him, and soon they off towards London.

CHAPTER 2

It was pouring rain in London too, as the car rolled slowly into an underground parking garage about tow hours later, Harry followed the signs to the visitor's entrance to the ministry, told the broken pay-phone why he was here and received his badge: _Harry Potter, Testing. _Once inside the ministry he felt instantly better, not because he had any reason to like the ministry, but it was good to be back in the company of wizards and witches again. Harry met Mr. Wesley on the lift, and after exchanging greetings, proceeded down to the floor labeled _Wizarding Qualification Testing. _There they were met a jumpy witch who gave Harry two sheaf's of parchment that he needed to fill out in order to take the test. It took Harry a long time to fill out the forms and after an amazingly long wait, he was the only one there, his name was called to be tested.

He was led by another overworked looking witch into an empty room where she began to explain the testing process. "Your goal is to Dissapperate, and Apperate in a completely different location some miles away. Should you accomplish this by re-appearing within three feet of your target you will have passed the test. Ready… set… go!" Harry was in no way ready but remembered form the papers he'd been given that he was aiming for a clearing in the about 25 miles away. He had an idea of where he was going from a map attached to the destination. So he swallowed hard and half-twisted half-stepped into that familiar constricted-squeezed feeling which only lasted for a few seconds before he re-appeared in an empty clearing and looked down to find his feet not ten inches from the mark he was supposed to be aiming for. Just then a pop to his right interrupted his thoughts and the testing witch appeared next to him. "Congratulations Mr. Potter you've passed." "Errr… Thank you" replied Harry. "What do I do know?" "You Apperate back of course." So he did, this time re-appearing exactly where he'd wanted to back in the small office at the ministry. Mr. Wesley was there to meet him with a big grin on face as he clapped Harry on the shoulder with a "Well done Harry" and then together they headed for the lobby so that Harry could Apperate back to The Burrow. Harry found that he didn't enjoy Apparition that much, the compressed felling was very strange, although it was a serious improvement over Floo powder. Mrs. Weasley, and Ron were waiting in the backyard to greet him which Mrs. Weasley did with a huge floury hug and the promise of as much food as he could eat in the following month. Ron was rather subdued and quite, for much the same reason as Harry was. Together they walked inside and up to Ron's room where Harry would be staying.

Passing though the third floor landing Harry could feel eyes on the back of his neck and knew exactly who it was, though he didn't turn, it would have been to painful to see her right now. Ron seemed to know why Harry suddenly looked like he was making a hard decision and quickly moved upstairs. Harry's brief relationship with Ron's sister Ginny had been a better alternative to some of her other boyfriends but that didn't mean that Ron was entirely happy about it. The old room on the top floor looked the same as it always did, maybe a little messier then usual, Harry set down his things and plopped down on the extra bed, suddenly feeling very depressed. Ron tried to start a discussion on Quiddich, but not even talk Harry's favorite game, in his opinion the only one worth playing, could distract his mind from the girl he was afraid to love, just two floors down. He had explained it to her ant the end of last year, knew she understood why they couldn't be together, and knew that both of them hated it. After some hours Mrs. Weasley called them down to dinner, Harry and Ron passed by Ginny's open door on their way down and Harry was almost sure she had opened it on purpose when she heard them coming. Harry suddenly knew that the next weeks were going to be some the most emotionally difficult times of his life.

Dinner was quiet and rather awkward with Harry trying not to look at Ginny, Ginny only half trying not to look at Harry, Ron trying not to notice, and Mrs. Weasely actually not knowing that anything was going on at all. By the end of dinner Harry was soundly regretting the hard decision that he had made two months ago, and wondering if it might be worth the risk to be as happy as he had been for those few days.

Time dragged by very slowly for Harry and it seemed like no matter where he was trying to seclude himself, he always found himself running into Ginny and then trying to find an excuse to leave without saying much. It was hurting him to do this, but he knew it to be for the best. The pain was obvious on her face sometimes too, and Harry thought that he had even heard crying one night on his way to the bathroom.

There were thing Harry had to do know, one of them was killing him inside, the other one was much easer now, nut would be painful later. And so he sat at Ron's battered desk, took out ink, and quill, and parchment, and wrote a letter:

_Dear Professor McGonagall,_

_I would greatly appreciate it if you could arrange a meeting for me, __all of the old faces__, in the usual place, I think you will find that the same note will work. There is little time and much to be done, and first we must reorganize ourselves. _

_Your sincerely, Harry Potter_

Hedwig winged off into the night, carrying the letter that would bring back even more painful memories later that night. In the meantime Harry went down stairs to get something to eat for lunch, and yet again bumped into Ginny on the third landing, this time he didn't bother with an excuse, he just bolted down the stairs, and without a word began eating the sandwich's that Mrs. Weasely had prepared.

When lunch was over Harry asked Mrs. Weasley for a private word and explained that he was calling a meeting of The Order tonight and that he needed her, Mr. Weasley, Ron, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George to be there. She seemed skeptical but agreed and hurried off to contact her two sons abroad. Harry returned to the top floor where he was amazed to find Hedwig with a note tied to her leg:

_Mr. Potter,_

_I will of course arrange the meeting for you, I only hope you know what your doing, having this many of us in one place is very dangerous._

_Minerva McGonagall _

It was about what he had expected and at least she was going to do it. There was no backing out know, thought Harry, as much as he'd never wanted to even see that house again, he was going to have to. There was just no other place to do it, he couldn't ask anyone else to put themselves in danger by having the whole Order of the Phoenix meet at their house. It was dangerous enough with all of the spells and enchantments on the house at Number 12 Grimald Place. Harry dispatched Hedwig with a letter to Hermione, telling her of the meeting and how to get in, he needed her there of all people. He had thought of including Ginny, but knew that apart from his own misgivings, mainly the desire to keep her as far away from danger as humanly possible, Mrs. Weasley would never her allow her last child to join the Order while she still had any stay in the matter. She was as nervous as Harry had ever seen her, always checking her magical clock that told her where the members of the family where, she tried to hide it, but not very well.

Finally the time came to leave and Harry half twisted half jumped himself into an old front yard in London, said the pass phrase aloud, and walked into his house. It was dirty and smelly as ever, and the first thing Harry did was to take out his wand and use a very destructive spell he'd been teaching himself, to destroy the enchanted painting of Sirius' mother that hung on the hallway wall. Then he went into the kitchen to wait. First the Weasley's arrived, then Professor McGonagall, Tonks and Remus Lupin, Madeye Moody, and several people Harry had not even known were in the Order. Hermione arrived last, Harry supposed that she had been driven here by her muggle parents. And so the first meeting of The Order of the Phoenix under Harry Potter began.

CHAPTER 3

"I think I've figured out why we're losing this war," Harry was saying "it's because the other side has no set limitations on what they can and can't do, we've restricted ourselves. I think it s time for that to change, we're longer gathering intelligence, identifying Deatheaters, now I want to start hitting back, I want o start thinning out their ranks, start making them pay for what they're doing to the world." "Harry," Hermione asked, tentatively "are you asking us to…. To kill death eaters?" "No" replied Harry" "I'm telling you to, and I know most of you agree with me, we're losing to badly, with Dumbledore alive we had a chance to win it his way, not any more, now it's this way or lose. I hope you all understand that" heads nodded in the small kitchen, though not all of them, Hermione and Mrs. Weasely in particular looked mortified, while the elder Weasely brothers along with Tonks and Lupin, had adopted looks of grim determination, and Madeye Moody was nearly jumping for joy at the idea of being able to kill dark wizards. "But what will the ministry say?" Asked McGonagall "Nothing replied Harry " They still want my support and they'll do anything to get it."

After some small discussion on the moral complications of killing mass-murderers people began to slowly file out until only Mr. and Mrs. Weasely, Fred, George, Ron, Harry and Hermione were left, and they soon returned to The Burrow where everyone except Harry went to bed. Something told him he wouldn't be sleeping much for a while, he'd asked some his best and closest friends, most of them, in fact, to seek out and try to kill Deatheaters, Harry just hoped they were all up to it. He was also dreading the day he knew would come, when the ministry finally figured out what was going on, came to him about it, they would of course, and he would have to sell his support to people he neither liked, now respected, nor thought deserved his respect. And he would have to give it to them to protect his friends, but he knew they would all do the same for him, and some of them had, no he thought about it.

Surprisingly life seemed a little easier now that he'd accomplished that particularly nasty piece of business, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley seemed not to want to look at him, and Ron was constantly nervous, but it felt as though some of the weight was lifted, he even caught himself smiling at Ginny a few times, as did Ron and Hermione, and their amused looks only served to further confuse Mrs. Weasley, who still had not caught on.

CHAPTER 4

In a small village way out in the country, two hooded and cloaked figures moves swiftly through the night, one was under the Imperious curse and didn't know it. The other didn't know anything and was just a bodyguard. The pair moved into the village to a seemingly abandoned hut, upon entering they found it was only enchanted to look that way and was in fact a very luxurious manor house. The bodyguard halted and the cursed man moved towards the head of a table where a shrouded figure sat and drank wine. He knelt down before the figure and made his report on the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. "You have done well, your betrayal of your friends will not go unrewarded, now return and continue to watch and listen." The cursed man arose, bowed, and made his way out. The man who was no longer a man, called Waylin Tarringon, took another sip of wine, and began to ponder the significance of what the traitor had told him.

CHAPTER 5

Time passes on, and no war can change that, neither can it change the coming of school for children, wizards included. The Burrow was becoming increasingly harried as people ran about looking for things everyone trying to get everyone else's things packed so they could start on their own. And no one really got too much done at all. Harry had already arranged for a few ministry cars to take them to the train station on September first, and was starting to appreciate just how easily he could manipulate the ministry. It was almost too easy all he had had to do was to tell the minister that it might make the situation appear less serious if ministry officials were seen out helping students get to London, and the minister had not only agreed, but asked if Harry had any more good ideas, Harry thought he was genially serious about that, which brought a rare smile to his lips.

The cars rolled out onto the country lane and were soon navigating the city streets with ease, to the fact that they arrived at platform 9 ¾ with 20 minutes to spare for good-byes, good-lucks, and be carefull's. Harry of course received the majority of these and was getting pretty tired of it when Ron and Hermione announced that they had to go up to the Prefects compartment, they were Head Boy and Girl, and Harry opted to go with them, rather then have to find a compartment with Ginny. He did manage to find one with Cho Chang and some other members of the D.A. and was finally felling almost like a normal teenager for the first time all summer. He found that he was completely at ease around Cho, something that surprised him greatly, and accredited it to the fact that a small part of his brain was, as always, focused on Ginny and where she might be, and what she might be doing, and what they might be doing together id he wasn't so stupid as to push her away. But it was a small voice among many greater ones, still it did worry him a little as the English country side rolled by.

As usual the train ride seemed all to short and soon enough the train slowed and stopped, the was a violent melee of bodies and luggage as everyone tries to disembark at once, and then there was Hagrid's massive voice calling out for the first years, and them something different, "Harry!…. Harry!… there ye' are Harry! Been lookin' for ye' yer to come across the lake with me an' these firs' years, don't ask me why cause I don' know, 'tis jus' what Professor McGonagall told me to do". Harry knew it was pointless to argue and kind of liked the idea of a moon-lit boat ride, the small voice in his head instantly added Ginny to that picture, and so he helped Hagrid lead the little first years down to the lake and the boats that awaited.

CHAPTER 6

Harry was met at the doors to the castle by Professor McGonagall, and his first thought was that something had gone wrong with the Order. She seemed to have read his mind, or expected the question because she quickly told him that nothing at all was wrong but she needed to speak with him before the feast. "Potter as you know the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is vacant for the tenth year in a row, and I would like you to fill it." Harry was in complete shock and could only stare dumbly. "Oh come now Harry, don't look so surprised, you're a natural candidate for the job, you must at least as much about it as half of your old teachers, and ill have no argument, there's no one else in the country to do the job." And without another word she led him into the Great Hall through the small teachers door, and he took his seat at the staff table between her and Hagrid, with the eyes of everyone present on him.


	2. Chapter 2

Part Two

It was awkward for about thirty seconds then the Slytherin side of the Great Hall erupted in laughter and the Gryffindor side applauded while glaring at the Slytherins. All of his classmates seemed to regard the idea of him teaching either a godsend or a very funny joke, either way, Harry thought as he started eating, life was going to change in hurry for the Slytherins. Snape was no longer there to baby and favor them, and Harry intended to see to it that things got a little fairer at Hogwarts, particularly where house points were concerned.

He found himself enjoying this table, the food was easier to reach and he was seated next to Hagrid, who had been his friend for as long as Harry had known he was a wizard. He was looking out over the assembled students when it hit him that the Headmaster's seat to his left was still empty, Professor McGonagall was seated in her usual place to right of it. Harry wondered if this meant that she was not the new permanent Headmistress and who else could possible do the job.

The feast ended with its usual stretching and yawning as everyone made his or her way to their respective dormitories, except for Harry who went to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom and found his office/quarters and found that all of his things were there and so he made himself comfortable and went to bed. The dreams of Harry Potter were more troubled then usual and seemed, for some very odd reason unknown to Harry, to focus on Percy Weasley, whom he had neither seen nor heard from in over two years.

Harry awoke the next morning hardly rested and disturbed by his odd dreams, and judging by the looks he got upon entering the Great Hall, he must have looked it too. Breakfast took longer then he would have liked, and he found it odd that he was not at all nervous about teaching a class, teaching the DA for the last two years must have really helped him, or Hermione was simply right again.

His first class of the day was a group of third years comprised of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, thinking back to when Remus Lupin had taught him in his third year, Harry decided to start with magical creatures, perhaps with some help from Hagrid. For today, Harry gave a lecture and a few small demonstrations on the proper safety procedure for dealing with any potentially dangerous animal, informed the class they would be tested on this information sometime soon, and gave them the last five minutes of the class to talk amongst themselves, while he carefully listened. Harry had been a student long enough to know that there was a lot to be learned in classroom gossip, and Harry found that these children seemed to actually enjoy his class, which was odd because they hadn't done anything yet.

The next class was slightly more difficult, this time it was forth year Slytherins and a few Huffelpuff's, and Harry ended up having to take over 40 points from Slytherin just to get everyone seated and quite. For these slightly older students he decided to work on some simple counter-curses and anti-jinxes. All soon proved to be about the right level for this sort of thing so Harry assigned them some light reading and told them to practice Shield charms, as they would come in handy in this class.

This continued for several weeks into the fall season of early October and Harry's favorite class by far the sixth and seventh years, many of whom knew nearly everything he had to teach from their time in the DA. Harry soon realized he was going to need to learn more and decided on Hermione to help him out with that. He had two periods off a day, which usually coincided with Ron's and Hermione's free periods, and so they had plenty of time to learn new spells of just to relax as the had used too.

Then one cool October day, Harry found a note on his desk telling him to report to Professor McGonagall's office during his next free period, third. Harry thought he must have done something wrong and was slightly nervous for the first two classes, until he went to McGonagall's office and was offered tea, which he accepted as his fears vanished.

"Well Mr. Potter I take it you are doing well as a teacher, I've never seen such wonderful test scores from so many students. If there's a single fifth year who doesn't get Outstanding on his or her OWL I'll be amazed."

"I really didn't think I was doing all that good, I just teach it, sometimes demonstrate it, and everyone just seems to understand."

"That's the thing Mr. Potter; you have a natural teaching gift."

And with that the short meeting was ended and Harry returned to his office, feeling slightly elated and determining to see to it that all of the fifth years did achieve Outstanding on their OWL's.

Life at Hogwarts was not all this good, the castle always seemed strangely empty, especially the Great Hall, without Dumbledore, he had been the one constant thing, one shining beacon of hope for the wizarding world, always there with a solution or some infinite wisdom. And now he was gone, never to grace these halls again. Everyone could feel it, from those who had spent seven years under his tutorage, to those who had never heard of him until two months ago.

Bits and pieces of news reached the students ears, mostly through the practical lessons in Harry's classes, about what was happening in the outside world, how the war was going, and the atrocities that accompanied it. Harry used many of the events of the war in order to teach students how to counteract and respond to the dangers of dark wizards. It was actually quite useful, not only for his classes, but also for his war plans, to know what Voldemort was up to, and how he was thinking.

To Harry's thinking, and most everyone in The Order seemed to agree, Voldemort was blustering, he was angry at having been stopped so many times by Harry. 5 times Harry had thwarted Voldemort's domination, and even with the victory of having killed Dumbledore, Voldemort could not be very happy, and was taking out his anger mostly on muggles, whom he was killing daily.

Harry mostly hated the feeling that he wasn't getting much done, The Order had identified about 20 or 30 people it was nearly sure were all Death Eaters, but they needed the go-ahead from Harry to actually act against them. Thus far, no one had come to him with sufficient proof that someone was a Death Eater, to warrant their death.

It was a decision Harry dreaded making, but hoped he would make soon, because once he said "yes" once, he could say it again, as many times as it took to win.


	3. Chapter 3

-1Harry's biggest problem by far was his fifth period class, comprised of sixth years of all houses. The reason for his distress was the red-haired goddess who sat in the second row and frequently distracted his attentions away from explanations of the Patrounas Charm he was trying to teach them. The students in the first row, Ravanclaw's mainly, took it in turn to bring his attention back to teaching when his mind wandered to a place far from the classroom with one particular student. Ginny Weasly was a complication he had not anticipation when he had accepted this post.

He thought he would have been able to deal with seeing her occasionally in the common room or at Quidditch practice, but he never expected to have to spend a period a day, twice on Tuesdays, with her. It was becoming common knowledge among the student population that all one had to do was mention the youngest Weasly to get some free time in class. One fifth year Slytherin had allowed himself being overheard whispering to his mate about "that blood-traitors new boyfriend" and as a result earned the class the period off as Harry stormed into his office.

The Slytherin boy had, of course, been lying, but still the bell was wrong and nearly all of Harry's students knew how to infuriate they're teacher. And Harry couldn't even reprimand them for it without admitting, both to them and to himself, that it was true.

Ginny Weasly sat in the library pretending to work on her DADA homework, but really silently wondering if Harry would actually fail her for not completing it. She was perfectly aware of the effect she was having on her favorite teacher and was often seen smiling, looking very pleased with herself, when someone mentioned Harry's latest lapse in concentration over hearing her name. Her thoughts stayed on Harry as she remembered they're first kiss, after she had won the Quidditch cup in his absence no less, and the very pleasant, very long walk around the grounds that had followed.

"Ginny, the library's closing in a few moments… Ginny?…. Ginny?… GINNY!!" Luna Lovegood nearly screamed her name finally breaking her back to reality. "What? Oh… err… ok thanks Luna" Ginny managed to string together a few words as her best friend left for dinner. She soon followed blushing as Madam Pince, the librarian, watched her leave with a glare, making Ginny wonder how long she had been daydreaming about Harry, talk about having a crush on the teacher. A/N call me cheesy, I dare you!!!

"Potter! My office, now." Harry turned to see Professor McGonagall waving at him to follow her.

With a sullen "See you later" to Ron and Hermione he followed her, sure that he was in trouble for allowing students to distract him so easily.

"Potter you're going to headquarters, Alastor and Tonks need to see you at once."

"What's happened?" asked Harry, sure that someone was hurt or someone was dead or- "Nothing dreadful I assure you, Tonks simply said they needed to speak with you, so off you go."

And Harry shouted "Number 12 Grimould Place" into the fire, felt a sickening spinning and fell out onto the kitchen floor.

"Wotcher Harry"

"Hi Tonks, Moody, what's happened?" He asked as he stoop up.

"We've found Miss Lestrange… we thought you'd want to be there for it" replied Moody and Harry knew exactly what he meant. Of course Harry wanted to be there when Sirius' killer was put down. They Apperated, Harry holding Tonks' arm for guidance, and Harry found himself outside a rundown looking manor that reminded greatly of the Riddle house.

"Where are we?" He asked Tonks

"North Scotland, not sure exactly" She replied "Well where is she Mad-eye, I'm freezing"

"Second floor, alone. What do you want to do Harry?"

Without answering Harry shot a hex through the window Moody had indicated. The other two seemed to under stand and raised they're wands, waiting for the demented witch to come to them.

"Well well well if isn't my half-blood niece, how are you Nymphy? And you've brought me Potty, delightful"

They turned to face Belleatrix Lestrange, her face still bore the effects of Azkaban, though Harry suspected she had never been much to look at in the first place. He was jarred from his thoughts by a word he dreaded hearing.

"Crucio!"

Harry braced himself waiting for the pain, but it never came, instead he heard a scream from his left and turned to see Tonks on the ground managing not to scream but clearly in a lot of pain.

Harry cried "Stupefy!" just as Moody yelled "Impedimenta!" and both spells struck Bellatrix, knocking her off her feet and out of consciousness. Harry bent over Tonks while Moody covered the Stunned Death Eater.

"You alright?"

"Yeah Harry, that wasn't my first time under that curse, but it was the worst, she must really hate me."

"I think that's something to be proud of." replied Harry.

"Wake her up, she at least disserves to see her death coming, if only just."

"Ennervate" muttered Moody pointing his wand at Bellatrix's chest.

"Bellatrix Lestrange" said Harry in a strangely empty voice, "For your many numerous crimes I have deemed you unfit to live, good bye Bellatrix… SECTUMSEMPRA!" With the last word Harry slashed his wand through the air, aiming at the crying woman's torso. A huge gash appeared across her chest, spilling blood everywhere as Bellatrix Lestrange died. Harry pointed his want into the air and shouted "ASCENTIO FIONTI!" A giant scarlet and gold phoenix rose into the air above them, his own version of the Dark Mark.

"Nice one Harry, You-Know-Who's really going to like that."

"I thought Professor Dumbledore would have liked it"

Without another word turned and apperated to his house, then by Floo powder to Hogwarts in search of Neville Longbottom. The memory of his first murder still fresh in his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

-1A/N special thanks to rid3r chick for my first review, it is nice to know that someone enjoys my insomnia

A/N I do take requests. Sorry avid readers but this the forth chapter is going to be kind of short and cliffy. I have a lot to do tomorrow.

Ginny Weasly sat alone in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, trying to concentrate on her Charms homework and not really succeeding. Her thoughts kept drifting, most often to Harry, whom she believed asleep in the boys dormitory. So she was shocked to see him walking slowly and with a very grim expression on his face to Neville Longbottom of all people and engage him in a hushed conversation. It wasn't that she had anything against Neville, or thought Harry did, but Neville simply wasn't one of the usual cohorts. And the hushed conversation and guilty glances to check for eavesdroppers implied cohorting of some kind.

"Harry what's wrong? Has something happened?" Neville asked urgently when he saw how sullen and depressed Harry seemed to be.

"It's done Neville… she's dead."

"Who's dead? What are you talking about Harry? Who's dead?!"

"Bellatrix."

There was a brief stunned silence as Neville absorbed the information that one of his best friends had avenged his parents brutal torture.

"You mean you…."

"Yes Neville I killed her."

This was the first time Harry had admitted it, even in his own mind he hadn't said it to himself for fear of what it meant.

"I'm sorry if you wanted to do it yourself, or at least be there, but she was a target of opportunity."

"You mean you planned this? You planned to kill her?"

"Yes, not tonight but eventually I always knew I would."

"Harry this is the best news I think I've ever heard, Gran's going to be having kittens when she finds out Harry Potter avenged my parents."

"Actually Neville I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell her just yet, I don't think it would be very good if too many people found out that I was hunting Death Eaters."

"I understand Harry, I wont tell anyone."

And without another word Harry left the common room for the privacy of his personal quarters.

"What am I becoming? What if I end up killing Tom, only to replace him?"

Harry found it very odd that he was asking himself this question, let alone asking himself that particular question aloud in his office. It still felt strange to think of it as his office. Over the years he had known its every inhabitant and had been on the office on more than one occasion. His most fond memory of it was when Lupin had resided here, and told him things about himself and his father that he hadn't known and probably couldn't have learned from anyone else.

A small smile threatened to emerge on the face of Harry Potter as he remembered the horrible little moving kitten plates that Umbridge had kept here during his fifth year, easily his least favorite teacher, except maybe for _Snivillus…._


	5. Chapter 5

-1A/N review people. I'm not even going to bother writing if no ones reading. Even a simple "hi" will work.

September and October seemed to blur together in the mind of two of Hogwarts' most troubled students. For Ginny, there wasn't much besides homework to distract her from her constant thoughts of her favorite teacher. Some of her other grades were starting to be effected by her constant daydreaming of Harry, and she suspected that her DADA grade would be as well under a less biased teacher.

For Harry Potter, events around seemed to meld into the things that had happened before he killed Bellatrix, and the things that happened after he killed her. Ron and Hermione were more worried about him then even they could remember, and they had had plenty of experience worrying about him. No one seemed to know what was causing this new much less enjoyable Harry, only Neville seemed to have any idea and he had stated quite firmly on several occasions that he was not saying anything, that it was up to Harry to tell them when he was ready. The only thing that Harry seemed to give any thought was the classes he taught, which had become more boring, if not any less informative. He was sullen and gloomy most of the time, and didn't seem to wish any human contact at all.

Ginny especially seemed very upset by this, despite the fact that of all Harry's friends, she was the least effected. She and Harry were still going out of they're ways to avoid each other, even if they did a terrible job of hiding it, the whole school seemed to be aware that there was tension between them, if not the full extent of it. Ginny was determined to get Harry back, and had resolved to redouble her efforts given his current unhappy state. She had voiced her opinions to Hermione, who had agreed to try to help, and Ron, who had told her she was probably wasting her time.

Almost within an hour of Harry going all noble and telling her that they could no longer be together, she had decided that she would change his mind, no matter what it took. She simply hadn't worked out how yet. The first time had been easy, she had dated a few other boys, realized that none of them made her happy the way just talking with Harry did. He had looked so… concerned when he and Ron had found her kissing Dean, Ron had gone crazy and tried to hex her, but Harry just looked concerned. She had seen that look on his face increasingly over the following months, until after she had won him the Quidditch cup in his absence, and he had kissed her in front of almost the whole of Gryffindor. She had half-hoped, half-expected that he would, but she had been no where near prepared for it.

It had been such a perfect moment, perfect day really, almost like a fairy tale, then he had to go and ruin everything with his damn nobility. She knew that he only wanted to protect her, keep her from harm, but it was slowly killing her inside to be away from him, and she knew that it must be hurting him. Dumbledore had always said that love was the most powerful force there was, the words of Professor MacGonagall came to her mind, "_Dumbledore would have been happy to know there was a little more love in the world._" She had spoken to Remus Lupin and Tonks, but she could have sworn that more then one person had looked at her and Harry at those words.

"_He would be happier if there were more love, especially for Harry."_

"_He needs it, with everything that's happened to him, he needs as many people to love as he can get."_

With that, Ginny Weasly put down her homework and began seriously thinking about how to get Harry to see sense, maybe she would ask Hermione for help after all….

At that particular moment Harry Potter was sitting in his office, as he had taken to doing since he had returned from giving Bellatrix justice, fighting in his own mind. Part of him wanted to tell everyone what had happened, and let it go at that. Another part, a stronger part, kept insisting that no one besides Mad-eye and Tonks could possibly understand, and that if he told anyone besides Neville he would lose all of his friends, and Ginny… This was the thought that kept him from saying anything, it was hard enough not being with Ginny, but losing her completely, to have her dispise him and think him no better than a Death Eater, that would be worse that torture to him, worse than the Cruciartis Curse or anything else Voldemort had done to him. It would kill him more surely then the Avada Kadavra Curse.

**A/N call it sappy if you will, but I've been reading a lot of post HBP fanfics and almost no one pays enough attention to the Harry/Ginny problem, I mean if you were in that situation what would you care more about? The girl you love, or a Dark Wizard trying to kill everything you care about? Anyway I think that hearing things from Ginny's side is pretty important and I couldn't really think of anything else to write. I promise there will be some more interesting material in future chapters, my over all goal is 40 chapters, maybe half a million words, that should be good, I'll try to put up about 3 or 4 a week but writing isn't easy people so please be patient with me. And REVIEW**

**Please and thank you**


	6. Chapter 6

-1Ch. 5 ¾

**If I see one more Fanfic in which Ginny and Draco are together, I'm going to kill the author, then hang myself. I mean that's just plain disgusting. And Draco is never going to come over to the right side, it's not going to happen, stop lying to yourselves. And another thing, what's with all the Draco/Hermione stories out there? In case no one noticed he hates muggle-borns, and she hates him, she popped him in the face in book 3, I mean how dumb are some of these people? **

**And now, on with the story.**

Days fade into weeks fade into months, and even thoughts of murder and lost love can change this. Ginny was almost constantly to be found scheming away in the common room, with or without Hermione, Harry was still teaching, although without the enthusiasm and attention that had earned him such high prase from the Headmistress, Hermione was worried about everyone, Ron was worried as well, but blissfully unaware of the scope of Ginny's depression.

Only Hermione knew the full measure of Ginny's unhappiness, for to those unaware of her grief over Harry, she looked perfectly happy, she had brought her grades back up, and was outwardly cheerful pleasant. Her attempts to reunite herself with Harry seemed to be fueling her to knew academic and social heights, or maybe she just didn't want anyone to take too much notice. It is very useful, when plotting about someone, to have help from someone close to that person, especially the cleverest witch Hogwarts has ever seen. Hermione was more helpful then Ginny could possibly have hoped, and seemed very eager to get them together, this seemed strange to Ginny until she remembered that it had been Hermione who had helped her to get Harry's attention in the first place. And how well that had turned out, for a few short weeks.

Together they had found what Ginny was sure was a guarunteed way to get Harry to give up on being so bloody noble and come back to her. Hermione was less sure but wasn't about to smash the younger girls confidence.

Harry was having a harder time of it then he had thought he would, with November passing quickly and the holidays approaching, student were becoming increasingly difficult to teach, his own dipressed diposition didn't help matters at all. He was pushing away everyone who still cared about him, for fear of losing them, and he was losing them anyway. Suddenly an idea so simple, so easy, and so appealing popped into his head with the force of a speeding Bludger. It was so obvious he couldn't think why it hadn't occurred to him sooner.

"_Christmas!!!!"_

The thought practicaly exploded in his head and he felt briefly as if he'd been hit with a Cunfundus Charm.

_No one could possibly hate him if he threw them all an amazing Christmas party at his house, he could tell them just before they left for the holidays, he could even invite Moody and Tonks, and maybe Neville, to explain exactly what had happened. _

"Dobby!"

There was a brief pause in which Harry wondered if he could call an elf that was not his, then he heard a familiar CRACK! And something small and furry hit him around the legs.

"Harry Potter sir! Harry Potter! Harry Potter wishes to see Dobby!"

"er Hi Dobby, How have been?"

"Dobby has been quite well Harry Potter, Dobby is still the only elf who will clean Gryffindor tower, so Dobby is very busy sir."

"Well Dobby, I was wondering if you might want to come and work for me for a while, Kreacher hasn't cleaned my house in nearly fifty years, and I cant say that I want him too, it's just for the holidays, though, and of course I'd pay you, say fifty Galleons for the three weeks. What do you say Dobby?"

For a minute it looked as if the elf would burst into tears and Harry couldn't imagine why.

"Dobby has never been asked to anything Harry Potter, and fifty Galleons, that is more money then Dobby is ever seeing in his life Harry Potter sir! Of course Dobby would love to clean Harry Potters house for him and take care of him, Dobby would love to Harry Potter sir!"

"Excelent Dobby, knew I count on you, I want to have rather a large party for Christmas though, so here's thirty Galleons in advance."

And he handed Dobby a pouch full on money, which the elf accepted, still looking as though he would cry. Then with a CRACK, he was gone, and Harry was left to wonder how the elf knew where his house was. Putting these thoughts out of his head, he put quill to parchment and sent out invitations to Moody, Tonks, Lupin, and all of the Weasly's that he could think of. He would tell Ron and Hermione himself after he heard back from everyone else, he didn't think he could beer to speak to his Ginny, let alone invite her to his house for Christmas.

"_My Ginny… I doubt she even loves me anymore, she's probably found someone else by now, she always too popular for her own good."_

And with these depressing thoughts still lingering in his mind, Harry drifted off to sleep, his dreams filled with thoughts of Ginny with other boys, not with him, but happy all the same, and the fact that she was happy was all that kept dreams from being the worst of his life.

At that particular moment, Ginny Weasly was the last one still up in Gryffindor common room, she had finished all of her homework, it was nearly midnight but she was still up, checking and double checking her plans, everything had to be just right, she had Hermione, Luna, Neville, Collin Creavy helping her already, it would have been nice to have one more person, but she didn't know who else to trust, she was doubtful enough as it was, only by promising him exclusive photo rights had she been able to convince him to help her. And she wasn't sure how Harry would react to her having promised Collin that he could take as many pictures as he wanted on they're second first date, not well she thought. But she had needed someone else from the D.A. and Collin had been the only male Gryffindor left apart from Ron, who was out of the question.

**A/N sorry I know it seems like a lot of buildup but I'm still working out the details of this plan. Chapter 7 up soon. Maybe tomorrow. **


	7. Chapter 7

-1**A/N all-nighter, two of my best chapters, two dead main characters, part of the prophecy revealed, two people get what they've got coming, you can't not review this, its gold.**

"O.K. everyone know what to do?"

"Yeah Ginny, this is about the tenth time we've gone over it, we're not all your brothers."

Ginny was shocked, she had never heard Neville this heated before, but they had been over it a lot, she just wanted it to be perfect. She was sure this was the best plan she could possibly come up with, even Hermione thought it was a very good plan. Hermione was going to Ginny a very detailed makeover, including some muggle tricks that she was sure neither her mother or brothers would approve of. It would be disastrous if Ron found out about this, he would go crazy and probably curse Harry. That was Neville's job, keeping Ron, and everyone else distracted with a chess tournament, the prize for which would be a famous Wizard Card, Aggrippa, the only one Ron didn't have.

Luna would be spending the next few weeks dropping hints, very obviously, to Harry that Ginny missed him and wanted him back. Colin would lure Harry up to the Room of Requirement, which Hermione had several ideas for fixing up. The rest would be up to Ginny's appearance, and the rekindling of they're love. Everyone agreed that it would work, just with differing outcomes. Ginny and Hermione barricaded themselves in Ginny's room with Lavender Brown, while Luna went to drop one last clue for Harry, and Neville started his chess tournament.

Harry was having a miserable week, it was the last day before winter break, and he was as unhappy as he'd ever been, Luna seemed to have made it her mission in life to remind Harry, several times a day, how unhappy Ginny was and how she missed him terribly. At first these reminders of his love gave him hope, maybe she hadn't found someone else, maybe she did still love him, then quickly moved back to pain as he realized that she must be as unhappy as he was. It broke his heart all over again to think that he was breaking hers. And he was showing the strain, he was losing focus in his classes, mostly just allowing students to work for other subjects, and had been asked by several other teachers if he was O.K.

"Hello Harry."

Luna was walking beside him again, surely with another tale of Ginny's increased sorrow.

"You know Luna, I could dock house points for referring to a teacher by they're first time."

"Yes but you won't. Don't worry I don't call you Harry in class. Anyway you Ginny's been talking about you again."

"Oh, er…. Really?"

"Oh yes, almost nothing but, its actually quite boring, try to have a conversation with her and its 'Harry this' and 'Harry that', no offence though, I just don't find you that interesting 24/7."

"None taken."

Harry took advantage of his knowledge of the school to duck down a secret passageway towards the Great Hall and dinner, maybe Hagrid could take his mind off of Ginny. Harry had only gone about five steps out of the passageway when he was called yet again.

"Harry! Harry! Hey Harry!"

"Hi Colin."

"Harry you have to come with me now! It's really important!"

"Can't you get someone else? I'm not feeling up to anything just now"

"No Harry it has to be you, hurry, c'mon Harry."

"Nothings happened has it?" The urgency in Colin's tone was making Harry wonder if everyone was alright. He wasn't really expecting a Death Eater attack on Hogwarts, but with Dumbledore gone…

"Please hurry Harry it really important."

"O.K. O.K. lead the way Colin."

Colin took off at such a fast pace that Harry was hard pressed to keep up with him as they sprinted around corners and up hidden stairs. They had been running for so long and in so many different directions that Harry was beginning to wonder if Colin knew where he was going, when he ran right into Collin's back, nearly knocking him over.

"Hang on, Colin why are we at the Room of Requirement?"

But Colin had disappeared around a corner leaving Harry quite by himself. _Great, of all the things I could be doing I have to play games with Colin Creevy, I wonder if it's an official meeting of the Harry Potter fan club._ And Harry opened the door and took half a step into the room. He only managed half a step before his breath caught in his throat, and his legs and arms stopped listening to his brain, and then his brain stopped telling them what to do, and he forgot to breath.

The room was decorated to look like a very fancy muggle restaurant. There were candles everywhere, gold gilding on the walls, soft Italian music playing, a table was set up in the center of the room. Candles and very nice looking settings. Wreathes hung all around the walls, as well as a large, lavishly decorated evergreen tree.

All of this paled in comparison next to the girl standing just next to the table. Her fiery red hair was fixed p on top of her head in a swirling bun that left little tendrils drape down around her face, her soft brown eyes looked exactly like warm chocolate, and the dress she was wearing was very similar to the dress she had worn to Bill and Fluer's wedding. Only Ginny would never have worn anything this nice for Fluer. It was sparkling gold, so that one could barely tell if it was actually gold, or just sparkles. It came up over her shoulders, accenting her graceful neck, and allowing ample protrusion of her chest, which Harry had not known could look so voluptuous.

It was a Ginny Weasly he had never seen before, that no one had seen before, nor likely would again. That little voice in Harry's head that had often told him to go back to Ginny was back, and louder then ever, drowning out all else. He could better protect her if he was with her, be better suited to fight if he was happier, have more to come back to. He was at the point of rushing to her, embracing her, and begging her forgiveness, when a familiar drawling voice caused him to turn slowly on the spot in utter disbelief, and the smile to vanish from Ginny's face.

"Well well, look what the little Weasels done with herself, almost looks half decent for a blood-traitor, too bad…"

His wand was out, pointed not at Harry but at Ginny. Something in Harry's brain fired, told him to move, to draw his wand, to block the curse he knew was coming, to do anything. His hand went for his wand at the same instant as his feet pushed him between Ginny and Malfoy, but it was too late. He could already hear the words, could already see the now familiar flash of green light, his wand was only half way out, if he'd been a little quicker he could have saved her.

"AVADA KADAVERA!!!"

The jet of green light flew from Malfoy's wand, past Harry's outstretched hands, past the candle-let table, and hit Ginny full in the face.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

The scream wrenched from Harry's mouth and echoed around the room horribly, like the dyeing cry of some great beast. And Harry turned his wand on Malfoy, pure hatred in his eyes and evil dripping from his voice.

"Crucio!!"

And Draco was on the ground spamming as pure malice flowed through the curse from Harry's wand, more then when Cedric had died, more then when Sirius had died, but he drew on them, drew all the hate and loathing and anger in him and threw it all into the Unforgivable Curse that was now causing Draco Malfoy to break his own bones as he spasmed in pain. Then Harry thought of Ginny, and every memory he had ever had of her, every moment they had ever spent together flooded into his mind, and Draco stopped screaming and lay motionless as Harry turned his wand to his fallen love. He didn't know what he was doing, knew there was no way to bring someone back from the dead, knew that no one could survive a killing curse, but didn't care. He just let all of the love he had ever felt and every happy memory he had fill his mind, and he felt himself joined by others who cared for him, and who cared for Ginny, and everyone he knew who had ever loved someone, and he connected with them, and became a conduit for all of the love he could find. There was so much raw power coursing through him, begging to be harnessed, and in that moment Harry knew beyond a doubt that Dumbledore was right, that Voldemort did not stand a chance, for love was the most powerful force in the universe, and Harry knew how to use it now.

He was drawing so much power into himself, channeling so much of the most powerful emotion from so many people it was cause the elaborately decorated room to be torn apart. The table and chairs were blown against a wall and smashed, the evergreen tree was thrown nearly to the ceiling, and even the heavy stones of the castle were nearly ripped apart by the pure power flowing through Harry Potter and into Ginny Weasly.

There is no spell that can reawaken the dead. None at all. It simply can't be done. And Harry Potter didn't care. He did it anyway. That must power, especially from pure love, is hard to deny, and Ginny Weasly's heart wasn't about to complain as it started beating again, nor her longs as they drew breath, nor her brain as it started thinking, nor her soul as it returned to her body, weak, and only just, only just, but still alive.

Ginny sat up in amazement, sure that only moments ago she had been very dead. Her head hurt terribly and she could barely breath, but she was alive, and she could see Harry, and for a brief moment she though she saw waves of pure gold emanating from him, just before she feinted.

Harry was able barely able to stand as he felt the power leave him, he felt more tired the he had ever been in his life, he would give almost anything to lie down and sleep. Then he saw her, he saw her chest rise and fall, then she sat up, and expression of pure bewilderment on her beautiful face, and he could fight it no longer, and gave in to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

-1"Molly come away, you don't want to wake them, Poppy says they need all the sleep they can get, and after what happened tonight I think they're going to need a lot of it. Miss Granger swears she saw your daughter hit by the Killing Curse, swears it up and down. And no one has been able explain what happened to Harry, or how nearly half of the seventh floor was wrecked."

"Yes… yes your right Minerva, I just cant imagine what could have happened, I mean my Ginny hit by the Killing Curse, who would want to hurt her? And if she was hit, how can she be alive? How? Not that I'm complaining, of course I don't want to see her hurt, I just want to under stand what's going on."

And Mrs. Weasly broke into hysterical sobs again looking over her only daughter, and the boy she counted as a son, lying still and silent, barely alive, and there was nothing anyone could do.

"And what about the Malfoy boy?" she finally managed to choke out. Draco Malfoy was lying in a bed at the other end of the infirmary, most of his bones broken, and guarded by a silently crying Hagrid.

"He appears to have been subjected to the Cruciartis Curse, and his wand was the one that fired the Killing Curse. He will be taken before the Wizengamont when he is fully recovered, that's if he survives Potter waking up, and your other children visiting. Hagrid might not exactly jump to stop someone from attacking him right now, and I'm not sure I'd want him to. I mean to say trying to kill Harry would be one thing, but going after an innocent student, disgusting."

McGonagall led a still crying Mrs. Weasly to her office leaving the two unconscious teenagers to rest.

Ginny awoke very thirsty and very confused, and slightly annoyed by the intensity of the light that was currently blinding her. She had only barely moved when she was enveloped in a hug that she recognized as her mothers and she was being squeezed nearly to death as well as nearly drowned in her mothers tears.

"Oh Ginny! Ginny! Your awake! Oh thank Merlin, your awake."

"Mum I'm fine, what's going on?"

"Oh Ginny, you've been asleep for days, Oh! I've been so worried."

"Well stop worrying I'm fine, where's Harry?"

She looked around having escaped her mothers hug and spotted Harry still asleep in the bed next to hers.

"What wrong with Harry mum?"

"We don't know, no one can find anything wrong with him, he just won't wake up. And they've been saying that you were hit with a Killing Curse, poor Hermione's been in front of the Wizengamont twice now. What happened dear?"

"He did, I mean I was… I mean Malfoy tried to kill me, I felt the curse hit me, and I….I…I… died."

"What? No you couldn't have, your not dead sweetie."

"No, but… I was. I was dead. And he… Harry brought me back. He brought me back."

Ginny relayed the tale of the attack to her mother, to her father, to Professor McGonagall, to someone from the Ministry, over and over until she felt like she ought to write it down. Finally they all left and she was allowed to rest, to sleep. But she was awoken by a dull thud and looked to see Harry put on his glasses and walk out of the infirmary, she assumed she was dreaming and rolled over.

"Miss Granger I'm sorry but I fail to see how Mr. Malfoy could have possibly used a Killing curse on Miss. Weasly if she is still alive. Now it seems to me like you were out of bed after hours, were caught, and made this up as an excuse to avoid punishment."

"How could you possibly think that I would do that, besides Malfoy's wand proves he used the curse."

"Once again Miss Granger I fail to understand-"

"I expect that you fail to understand rather a lot Umbridge, so I'll make this very simple, your fired!"

Harry practically snarled the last two words, the scars on the back of his hand stretched tight. Umbridge looked rather shocked then turned to Scimegour, who nodded and then pointed towards the door. Umbridge looked for a moment as though she might protest, but thought better of it and walked towards the door.

"Hold on, I'm not finished, Kingsly arrest her, using Unforgivable on a student is a rather serious crime. But on to the matter at hand, Minister I can assure you the Draco Malfoy used the Avada Kadavera curse on Miss Weasly, however she is perfectly alive, NOR IS SHE THE FIRST PERSON TO SURVIVE THIS CURSE YOU DOLTS!"

Harry roared these words at the assembled witches and wizards while pointing to his scar.

"But no need to worry, I've put pair to dear Draco, someone will need to pop up to the school to collect his body," Harry picked up a book and tapped it with his wand muttering "portus" "good day Minister." And he and Hermione were back in the headmasters office at Hogwarts facing a very shocked Minerva McGonagall.

"Potter! But how? How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to kill Malfoy, sack Umbridge, and deal with the Ministry. Now, how's Ginny?"

"Miss Weasly is fine, although having trouble dealing with you bringing back from the dead, as am I, I don't suppose you'd care to explain?"

"I'm not sure if I can, all I can say for sure is that Dumbledore was right, love is more powerful then any of us can possibly imagine. Somehow love can do almost anything, and it can be channeled, I think I could have taken Merlin himself that night, Re-instituting life is slightly more challenging, it nearly killed me, and I don't think I could have done it for anyone else."

"Well… I… well yes. I'm sure you will be anxious to re-assure everyone, off you go."

Harry and Hermione went immediately to the Hospital wing, where they found all of the Weasly's, minus Percy, talking to Ginny, who was the first to notice Harry. He gave them the same explanation he had given McGonagall, Ginny blushing very deeply every time he said 'love' and especially when he said he couldn't have done it for anyone but her.

No one seemed to have anything to say when Harry revealed that he was now the most powerful wizard alive. And no one needed too. They just sat together, a family, while Harry thought back how amazing  
Ginny had looked before Malfoy had ruined everything.

"Hey what did happen to Malfoy anyway? I mean before this morning."

"Well someone, we were assuming you, put him under the Crusiartis Curse, and he nearly died, he broke a lot of bones, kicking and thrashing, Madam Pomfry said it was worse then the Longbottom's, and Bellatrix took hours to do that."

"Bellatrix is dead."

Silence greeted this statement as everyone took in the news that the most brutal murderess in the world was dead, then Fred asked, "Who killed her?"

"I did" answered Harry, resigning himself to tell them. "in cold blood, Moody and Tonks were there, they can tell you what happened."

"Harry Potter you Bastard, I hate you!!!"


	9. Chapter 9

-1**A/N I'm glad that many of you are reading, a lot of people have added me to their alert list's and that's great, but please review. Oh and sorry about the cliffy I left you with at the end of Chapter 8, but I couldn't resist. Enjoy!**

Dolores Umbridge paced across the sitting room of her house just outside London. Hatred for that wretched Potter boy consumed her thoughts. _How dare he try to fire me, I am a very powerful Ministry official, and Rufus allowing him to speak to me like that, disgraceful. Well I'll just have to resort to more desperate measures to settle this, that'll show them, and when everything is over, I'll be the new Minister, delightful._

Umbridge was lost in her thoughts of her new regime and barely noticed the red-haired man who had appeared out of her fire.

"Oh dear boy you startled me!" Exclaimed Umbridge. "Well? What did he say?"

"I did not speak with him personally, but Severus has informed me that your services will not be required or accepted by the Dark Lord, I'm sorry Madam Umbridge, it was a pleasure working with you…. AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

Umbridge let out a small scared squeak just before the curse hit her, and her lifeless body fell to the floor. The red-haired man strode to the window and aimed his wand towards the sky.

"MORES MORDE RA!"

The Dark Mark shot up into the sky above the former Undersecretary to the Minister's house.

Harry was shaken roughly awake in his bed in the hospital wing far too soon for his liking. "What's going on?" he asked as he groped for his glasses. "I was having the nicest dream about Gi- err… quidditch, this better be important."

"I can assure you Potter this is something you'll want to hear." Harry was surprised to hear Moody's voice answer him.

"Why what's happened?"

"Umbridge was murdered in her sitting room about an hour after you fired her."

Harry was momentarily elated at the news that one of his least favorite witch's was dead, then his joy was overcome by puzzlement.

"Moody what was she doing at home? I had her arrested for using an Unforgivable Curse on me two years ago, shouldn't she have been at the Ministry or something?"

"Yes she should have, we've been trying to find out why she wasn't, Kingsly said she was taken into the Auror Holding Area by Dawlish, that was the last time anyone saw her, or him for that matter. There's more, the old toad was killed by the Death Eaters."

"Why is that odd? Everyone's being killed by Death Eaters."

"Yes but after everything she did to make your life hell and discredit you and Dumbledore, and ignore Voldemort's return, they ought to have been on fairly good terms with her. We're thinking she was trying to enlist their help to take over the Ministry under her leadership. In the process she obviously found out something she shouldn't have and was killed for it."

Harry took a moment to take all of this in before a disturbing thought occurred to him. "Moody what about Dawlish? He might be working for Voldemort, we always thought he had a spy in the Auror Department, and this makes it look a lot like Dawlish is it."

"Yes we've already thought of that, he'll be arrested on sight if we find him. One last thing, I'm telling you this because I think it would be better for everyone to hear this from you, we were able to get some information on the wand used, it was eleven years old, and had been examined by the security desk in the Ministry, only a few wands fit the information, this was almost certainly the work of Percy Weasly." Moody got up and left, leaving Harry to his thoughts, which were troubled.

_Just great, as if I don't have enough to worry about, now I have to tell the Weasly's that their son might be a murderer. _Harry thought back to the earlier events of the evening, when Pansy Parkinson had ran into the hospital wing screaming how much she hated him, not that that was news, and trying to curse him, the Weasly children had taken care of that, Ginny in particular had nearly lost control. Pansy had been followed by a near hysterical Narcissa Malfoy, who had tried her level best to curse Harry as well, and had left the school still being attacked by great winged things courtesy of Ginny, nobody seemed inclined to take the hex off her.

Everyone had been utterly shocked when he told them about Bellatrix, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasly nearly fainted, Fred and George and Mr. Weasly simply looked stunned, and Ron had struggled not to yell at Harry for not telling them. Ginny took it best, she merely looked disapproving, Harry was relieved at that for he had been sure that Ginny would hate him after learning he was a murderer.

Once the initial shock resided everyone seemed to agree that no one deserved it more then Bellatris Lestrange, and left it at that, turning their focus instead to Harry's Christmas party, which Ginny had not known about. She looked very happy about spending three weeks at Harry's house, though only Hermione knew why.

Grimmuld Place was hardly recognizable, Dobby had done such a good job of cleaning the house, he had even taken the time to put a small brick wall over Mrs. Blacks portrait. Everyone seemed to find this very funny except for Harry, who could of nothing other then his godfather, wondering through the house, alone and miserable, in the days leading up to his death. No amount of cleaning or redecoration, which the elf had also done, could change the fact that being stuck in this house had made Sirius miserable enough to go charging off to Harry's rescue.

Ginny seemed the only one aware of his sudden unhappiness, and suggested that they all sit down to dinner. Mrs. Weasly was delighted to be told that she would not have to cook or clean or do laundry for the next two and half weeks, though Hermione looked very upset when she found out that Dobby had taken all of these responsibilities. Harry quickly informed her of Dobby's high salary, however, and that cleared things up for Hermione. Ginny, on the other hand, was one of Harry's main concerns, she constantly tried t get him on his own, she always seemed to be passing him in the hall, or sitting in the same as he was, to the point that Harry had taken to donning his invisibility cloak when he wanted to relax.

Harry had not even close to forgotten how stunning Ginny had looked that night, it was almost the only thing he thought about, and the only thing he dreamed about, not even Death Eaters or Voldemort could get his mind off her. He was shocked at the clever way in which she had set everything up, and strongly suspected that Hermione had helped, who else new his favorite foods and would not have told him about Ginny's plans, and had done a remarkable job, if not for Malfoy, Harry was sure he would have lost all thoughts of keeping her safe and demanded that she take him back and forgive him and enjoy a candle-lit dinner with him.

_But I couldn't protect her, I broke up with her, and I let everyone know it, and he still went after her. _That thought haunted Harry's mind, as he half-tried to convince himself that he could protect her better if she were constantly with him. But he was sure Voldemort had been well informed on what had happened, and that the idea that Harry had been on his way to a very romantic date as a Death Eater tried to murder his girlfriend would only encourage further attacks.

It was two days until Christmas Eve and Harry was in the library under his cloak, looking desperately through the old evil books for any mention of Horcrux's, but was so far unsuccessful. He looked up as Moody and Lupin walked in, but ignored them and continued to read, until he was scared nearly to death by Moody screaming at him.

"POTTER! We're not here for our health, get out of that book and get over here!"

He had forgotten that Moody could see through invisibility cloaks.

"Sorry, sorry, how've you been Remus?"

He went over to sit next to the last of his fathers best friends, and by far the closest thing Harry had to real family, the Dursly's didn't count.

"Oh I've been busy, following Death Eaters mostly, that's why we're here."

"Yeah there's gonna be a big meeting the day after Christmas, nearly all of Voldemort's inner circle will be there, Avery, Not, Crabbe, Malfoy, Snape."

Harry's head jerked up as Moody mentioned Dumbledore's killer.

"Snivillus is going to be there?"

"Yes Harry we thing so." Answered Lupin. "But think about this, do you really want to confront Severus, he's a very powerful wizard, and he wont be alone, ten of the strongest wizards alive will be there, He will probably be there too, I cant imagine why this many are meeting if not to speak with Voldemort. You cant fight them all."

"I know I cant fight them all alone, but maybe a bunch of us could, I'm fussed with most of them, but if we could kill Snape or Malfoy…"

"Too dangerous boy," Growled Moody. "Pick your battles, pick ones you can win. I don't think we can win this one."

"Your right, it is too dangerous, we'll have to think of another way to use this, try to find out why they're all meeting, it might help."

**A/Nplease review, please, I'm asking nicely. longest chapter yet, not too much action though, next chapter will be edge of your seat excitement though promise.**


	10. Chapter 10

_**And now at last, a major question shall be answered. But first a few words. **_

Nitwit! Blubber! Odment! Tweak! Tuck In!

-_Albus Dumbledore_

-1Harry paced impatiently back and forth across the library, everyone but himself was at the Burrow for Christmas morning, and he dearly wished to join them. If only Remus and Alastor would hurry up, they were late, but so much that he worried. Although it was looking like he might miss part of dinner. _Pop! _Remus appeared at the other end of the room, looking flushed and out of breath. "C'mon Harry we found Luscious Malfoy and Rodalfus Lestrange, Alastor's keeping and eyes on them, lets go." Harry rushed to his side, grabbed his arm, and popped out of existence only to reappear outside of what Harry guessed was Malfoy Manor.

"This was Harry, we can see right into the sitting room." Remus led Harry over to a low window, were he could just barely make out the form of Alastor Moody trying to listen at the window. Harry had been prepared for this. "Here." He said, handing each man an Extendable Ear, courtesy of Fred and George.

"Are you sure about this Luscious? Would the Dark Lord not prefer to have the girl brought directly to him?"

"The Dark Lord merely said to bring him the blood traitor, he never said what condition she was to be in." Malfoy had a sneer to his voice which reminded Harry strongly of something very unpleasant Draco had once said and suddenly a thought entered Harry's mind that scared him to the very core. He felt his heart slow as he connected the words "Blood traitor", "Girl", and "Condition". If they meant what he thought they meant…

"Well if you are sure Luscious, she did look rather pretty running through the Ministry, I guess we could have some fun in the service of the Dark Lord."

Those words from Lestrange confirmed the dread seeping into Harry's mind as he grudgingly accepted who they were talking about, and what they intended to do. Cold hatred entered his mind, it wasn't the first time he felt a strong desire to hurt someone, it was just the first time he allowed to flow unchecked from thought to reality as he blew the large window in on the two Death Eaters.

"Reducto!" The spell shattered the window and much of the surrounding wall showering Malfoy and Lestrange with bits of broken glass and shattered wood.

"Stupefy!" The stunning spell hit Luscious Malfoy in the chest before he had time to register he was being attacked. Remus and Alastor never even had a chance to move before the exchange was over, Rodalfus, having been hit with rather a lot of glass, had required only to be put out of his misery by Alastor. Fear racked Harry's brain, drowning out his other senses so that he barely heard Remus ask him what he wanted to do with Malfoy. Harry did not answer, he thought about it, giving considerable thought to killing the mad. But he couldn't, the Lestranges and Draco had been bad enough, if he killed this man out of anger and hate, the he, Harry, was no better.

"Azkaban again I guess, unless either of you want to--" Harry's sentence was cut off by a silver otter, which Harry recognized as Hermione's Patronus, gliding up to him and screeching at him. "Harry-come-quick-the-Burrows-been-attacked-help!" Hermione seemed to have tried to say everything as fast as possible, and it took several long moments for it to sink in before all three men Apperated to the Burrow.

These few moments turned out to be too long, Harry re-appeared just as the last black-cloaked figure disappeared with a _pop! _ Harry thought he caught a familiar shimmer of red under the Death Eaters arm, but turned his attention instead to the injured Weasley's. Miraculously none of them were dead, though only Fred was awake and in a state to talk, though his words were enough to briefly stopped Harry's heart.

"Harry- we tried mate… there were too many though" at this point Fred coughed up a large amount of blood, but it was the tone of his voice rather then his health that concerned Harry, it seemed as if he was trying to say something terribly important. He was.

"They… they got her Harry. We tried to stop them… there just too many…" Fred trailed off at the look on Harry's face, scared by the fury in his eyes, and extremely relieved that Harry was on their side.

* * *

There was no need for Fred to explain who "she" was, that flash of red head had been enough. The same hatred from earlier burned into his thoughts, only a thousand times worse knowing he could do nothing to save Ginny.

"Harry! HARRY!" Remus was yelling at him, telling him they needed to get to St. Mungo's, but Harry wasn't listening, he was thinking about an old house above a graveyard, one that he had only seen in a memory. He knew it was a trap, just as Voldemort knew he did, and also knew, just as Voldemort did, that he was going to walk into it anyway, because it was the only hope he had. He just couldn't imagine living in a world without Ginny, let alone one where she had been brutally tortured and killed, and especially not one were he had had even the slightest hope of saving her.

Remus Lupin walked around his adopted godson, and saw the look in his eyes, and felt his blood chill at the mixture of fury, hate, and determination. Raw power was emanating from Harry in waves, and Remus knew there was no force in heaven or Earth that could stop the full force of Harry's fury from erupting. So he didn't listen to his judgment, he didn't try to talk Harry out of it, he told him not to worry about anyone else, and wished him luck.

Harry's mind barely registered having Remus' blessing, it was concentrated on the fiery redhead, whom Harry loved more then his own life, and who was currently screaming under the Cruciartis Curse, screaming his name, screaming for him to save her. His mind and body clicked, his thoughts became actions, and his physical body disappeared, reappearing in from of two very surprised Death Eaters. His Sectumsempra Curse cut both of them down in a satisfying spray of blood. He could feel Voldemort's presence, knew he wasn't ready to duel the Dark Lord, and didn't care.

Harry made his way into the house, ignoring the large doors exploding as he hexed them out of his way, dull light seemed to come from nowhere to illuminate his path. The house was large, and had many rooms, and appeared to be empty, but Harry knew better, he didn't know how he knew, he just did, all the Death Eaters would be in the large sitting room, and there would be many. A faint scream reached his ears, his eyes narrowed and the light around him grew brighter, he knew that scream, it was the latest scream to haunt his nightmares, it was Ginny.

Harry was moving much faster then if he were walking, but he wasn't running, he was just moving through the house, watching the closed doors pass by until found the open one. He stood in the open doorway and looked into a mass of black, there must have been at least a hundred Death Eaters present. He didn't care, all he cared about was the narrow path that opened from him to the center of the room, where he could make out a shape about the right size to be a 16 year old girl, the tangle of red hair confirmed it as Harry's heart sank. She wasn't moving, but Voldemort was.

"Ah Harry, how nice of you to join us, I was beginning to doubt you would show. A pity I had to leave the mud blood and the blood traitors alive, but they will be dealt with after I kill you. Except this one, I can already cross her off the list." Malice dripped from Voldemort's words, he didn't seem to realize just how dangerous they were.

Harry's heart wrenched, then again, and again a third time… then it broke. Tears came to Harry's eyes as a guttural, animal snarl escaped his throat. The golden light surrounding him shone brighter then the sun, pulsating as his mangled heart continued to beat, for revenge. The Death Eaters moved back from him as the waves of furious power burned them, and the floor around him blackened. Torrents of hate and rage flooded his mind, his head reeled with anger, his body pulsed with power, and he let go. Harry let go of reason, of concern, of doubt, he let go of fear. Power such as he had never imagined filled him yet again, and the house shook for it. Tendrils of purple energy shot from him, slicing into the assembled wizards and cleaving flesh and bone.

He hardly noticed the wizards and witches he was cutting down, he had eyes only for Voldemort, and his want came gracefully from his pocket to his hand, as he stood and faced the mad who taken from him everything he held dear. His arm came up smoothly, slowly, he paced to the left, and fired a curse, stepped again and shot another curse. Voldemort dodged the first and blocked the second, returning a Killing Curse of his own. Harry leaned under the curse and straightened up, the words "SectumeSempra" leaving his mouth, his wand already sweeping across Voldemorts chest. Voldemort managed to block most of the spell, but even the little bit the hit him tore a deep gash into his pale skin, he Dissaperated with a hiss.

Infuriated by his opponents' flight, Harry turned his attention to the Death Eaters who had watched and cheered at the torment and death of his love. Killing Curses flew in from all directions at him, but he was on a level far above these pathetic servants. Nothing could touch him as he sidestepped and wheeled around curses, many of them hitting the Death Eaters behind him. Purple tendrils of death once again whipped forth, cutting down all in his reach. Men screamed as they died, but not nearly as loud in Harry's ears as Ginny had screamed to him to save her.

As her image flickered into his mind, grief took him, the power ebbed off, replaced by deepest loneliness, there was no one left for him to love now. The remaining Death Eaters fled in terror, none tried to interfere as he knelt by Ginny's side, his face twisted into a mask of horror, which quickly turned to surprise. Her chest was moving. Harry leaned down further and saw it more clearly, she was breathing! A hand to her neck revealed a pulse, and hope, that most desperate emotion, surged into him. She was still alive, he could still save her! Gently he gathered her in his arms, much as he had all those years ago in the Chamber of Secrets, felt her heartbeat match his own, and new that he was never going to leave her side again. She was as much as a part of him as his own heart, perhaps more so, he could imagine living with no heart much more readily then without Ginny.

* * *

St. Mungo's passed by in a blur, as he carried her to the fourth floor (spell damage) and laid her on a bed, most to the protests of the Healer in Charge. A Healer had tried to take Ginny to assess what was wrong with her, as was normal for incoming patients who were unconscious, the man had needed several potions and the day off to recover. No one had tried to get near him since, and no one protested that he should leave the ward. Ginny was not seriously injured, she was very week from having been tortured for almost three hours non-stop, apparently the entire Weasley family had been before the Death Eaters left, but her worst of all. She would need several courses of shock spells and a lot of help, but she would be fine in a matter of days.

Harry was just starting to consider abandoning his post for a few minutes to get something to eat. He didn't really feel hungry, didn't really feel anything other then worry, but he knew he had to eat. He had been watching over Ginny nonstop, refusing to leave the room or even sleep, lest he should miss her waking. He was about to get up and find a sandwich, when a flicker of motion caught the corner of his eye. His head snapped around and he saw two big brown eyes staring back at him. He just stared back, warmth flooding through him, to be interrupted by a scream of agony from Ginny's lips. She began thrashing about in the bed, screaming, and Harry recognized the actions of someone under the Cruciartis Curse. He grabbed her by her shoulders, holding her down, trying to tell her that she was alright, that it was over. She didn't seem able to hear him, still apparently convinced she was being tortured.

For one horrible, fleeting moment Harry thought that her mind had broken, like those of Neville's parent's had when they had been tortured. Then the screaming stopped, and Ginny lay still. By now half the ward was watching them, including Fred, who was the only Weasley able to move freely. "What's happening Harry? Is she alright?" Fred had rushed to his sister's bed as well, joined moments later by a Healer.

"Its ok, this is natural in torture victims, the last thing she remembers is being under the Curse, so when she wakes her mind thinks she still is, its quite common and nothing to worry about. Though it will probably happen again in the form of nightmares." As he explained this, the Healer poured out a pink potion, which Harry thought he recognized, and made Ginny drink it. "Cheering Drought." He explained.

Ginny lay still for a moment longer, then her eyes opened again, and found Harry, and a smile broke over her face a moment, to be replaced by tears. She cried uncontrollably, the memory of what had happened to her flooding back. Harry held her as tight as he could without suffocating her, letting her cry it out on his shoulder, wishing he could join her but needing to be strong for her. Her teary eyes looked around the room, clearly expecting to see her family, but finding only Harry and Fred. A fresh wail of misery escaped her as she assumed the worst, her family were dead, all she had left was Fred, and Harry. Fred seemed to realize this, as did Harry, but he was too busy trying not to cry for her pain to do anything.

"No Gin, its alright, no ones dead, Mum and Dad and everyone are fine, they just went allowed to come see you yet, bed rest and all that." Her tears slowed as the news that her family were not dead sunk in, replaced by confusion.

"Wha- What happened? The last thing I remember is being tor- tortured by Vol- Voldemort, what happened? How did I escape?" This snapped Harry around, he wasn't ready to tell her, she had nearly died, he had nearly lost her, he wouldn't tell her how he had slaughtered sixty people to save her.

"Shhh, it's ok Gin, don't worry about that now, there's plenty of time later, just rest now. Everyone's alright, I promise. Just rest now." Harry hated the thought of leaving her, but he had put it off for long enough already, he needed to talk to the Ministry, tell them what had happened, and get the rest of the details from Remus and Alastor. He got up slowly and left, Fred taking his place and filling his little sister in on the condition of the rest of the family. He turned at the door, looking her in the eye. "I love you." And he left the room, leaving her happier then she had been in a long time.

"She awake then?" Asked Alastor as Harry fell into step with him and Remus. "Yeah just got up, she'll be alright though, she's strong." Remus looked at him, being the only one to see the similarity between Harry and Ginny and James and Lily. Sadly he had more pressing matters at hand. "Harry you had better have one good story, you took out sixty-two Death Eaters, by yourself, and nearly Voldemort himself. I was there at the end, I don't know what you did, but it was like nothing I've ever seen. I don't think even Voldemort or Dumbledore could duel like that, you went up against forty to one odds and not even a scratch."

"Yeah well, I was upset." Harry answered unsatisfactorily. The media, or the Ministry for that matter, would never settle for any story he told them, better just to avoid it all together. But he couldn't, people needed hope, and here it was. The Chosen One had just taken out half the Death Eaters in one night, people would be overjoyed.

Fred sat next to his little sister, watching her face light up when Harry told her he loved her. The shadows and fear that had been there a moment before vanished, leaving the happy, glowing girl that was his sister. "He never left your side you know. Sat here for four days with you, didn't eat, didn't sleep, wouldn't talk to anyone. He just sat here, waiting for you, he hasn't even been to see Ron and Hermione yet. He loves you Ginny, and from what I heard Remus saying, he went to hell and back, knowing full well that he was to get you, but Remus can tell you better."

_** A/N My longest chapter yet. Twice as long as the others. Lots of action and a major plot line revealed. Harry and Ginny are finally back together. And yes i know it longer that usual to get this one up. writers block. I also have another story, Harry Potter and the Bruder in Rache, in which Harry does not save Ginny, WARNING / VIOLENT / VERY MORBID / READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. And always Read and Review, please and thank you. **_


	11. Chapter 11

-1_**A/N: Thanks to BBHarry for the review, I was starting to wonder if anyone was reading. Call me repetitive but I have once again noticed far more people adding me to alert lists then reviewing, please review. Also, after careful consideration, I have decided I need a third party to proof read my work, and make sure I don't do anything stupid. It's a full time job, not to be taken lightly, and I'm desperate so someone please do it.  
**_

_**BBHarry: I know chapter ten saw a lot of carnage, but I still have plenty of faceless, nameless Death Eaters, it's the key ones I'm running out of, though Snape is still alive…**_

All across the wizarding world witches and wizards awoke to find a free special addition of _The Daily Prophet _ awaiting them. Most simply thought it contained some new, motivating speech from the minister, thoughtful, but not really useful. So it was not until after cups of morning coffee and seeing to children that many people learned how You-Know-Who's Death Eaters had been attacked and beaten by The Boy Who Lived. Harry Potter became as famous again that morning as he had that night, 16 years ago, there were several parties at various pubs, people toasted and drank to his name, overjoyed that their hero was fighting for them, and winning.

But Harry Potter was not at any party, and he hadn't been fighting for them. He had been fighting for Ginny Weasley, and that's where he was, still unwilling to leave her side for more then a few minutes. It seemed he was trying to make up for the last six months, and Ginny wasn't complaining. After his meetings with reporters and the Minister, Harry had come immediately to her side, proclaimed himself the most idiotic man in the world, and begged her to forgive him, which she had already done. She had indeed asked Remus Lupin about the night Harry had saved her, and the tale scared her more then Voldemort had.

"Well we were spying on a meeting between Lucious Malfoy and Rodulfus Lestrange, it was about you. I think they were planning on kidnapping you and using you as bait for Harry. They made the mistake of discussing the idea of using you for… other things. That set Harry right off, I don't think I've seen anyone that mad, he nearly tore the house down, he didn't actually kill Rodulfus, and we have Malfoy in custody. Then we got Hermione's message that you lot were under attack, it was too late when we got there, we only just saw the last one leave, and then Fred told us what happened. Harry was scary, I was scared, that was the first time I felt sorry for Voldemort. He was so angry, then he just left, I don't know if he Dissaperated or not, me and Moody got your family here, and I went after Harry. I only just the saw the end of it, about forty Death Eaters at once tried to kill him. It was amazing, it was like nothing could touch him, I think he got about ten more of them before they gave and ran, then he went to you, I think he must have though you were dead, he was already crying when got there, then he saw you were alive, and just vanished again. He was so powerful when he was fighting to get to you though, I don't think even Dumbledore could have matched him then. The Death Eaters certainly didn't have a chance, but don't think any worse of him for killing them, I know its horrible that he had to do it, but he did it to save you. And he knew what he was going to be up against when he went after you, I could see it in his eyes, he was probably as scared as I was, scared of losing you. Not many people can walk into a hundred Death Eaters to face Voldemort without batting an eye, he did, for you. He loves you, more then I would have thought possible, take care of him."

Remus left out the parts about strange curses flying forth unbidden from Harry, she didn't need to know that right now. Ginny was nearly in shock, he had done all that for her, nearly got himself killed. He did still love her, and now she wouldn't let him leave again. She had spent a good twenty minutes telling Harry that if he tried to be all noble and protect her again, she would hex him.

Harry took Ginny straight back to Hogwarts after her stay at St.Mungos. Term started in two days and he figured the castle was the safest place for her, of course he didn't tell her that. Ginny was under the impression that she was returning to the castle early to spend some time alone with Harry, away from her brothers. Although she suspected the real reason, as long as she was spending time with Harry, she was happy.

"Ginny come on, this is the third empty classroom today."

"Then why are you complaining?" Asked Ginny in mild annoyance.

"Because the common room is much bigger, much more comfortable, and empty. And at this rate we'll never make it back." It had taken them over an hour just to get to the third floor.

"True, but you know how I hate waiting." She grinned and pulled him into the empty room, not to be seen for almost another hour. _**(A/N I know no one will ask this, but no they are not having sex, just completely innocent kissing, perverts.) **_

By the time the rest of the school had returned via The Hogwarts Express, Harry and Ginny had had nearly three days alone. As much as the loved their friends, neither of them was happy about being surrounded by people in the crowded castle any more. Even more daunting to Harry then the diminished time with his girlfriend was the prospect of having to teach a class with her in it. How was he supposed to instruct the sixth years on the complex counter-curses when his mind kept drifting back to those three days alone with the beautiful redhead. This became a valid concern after Ginny's first class on Monday, when, as usual, one of the Ravenclaws had to poke him rather hard to get his mind back in the classroom, and out of the one on the floor below, were they had spent most of Saturday. Ginny was blushing furiously and most of the rest of the class was giggling, except for a few girls, who were glaring at Ginny.

He was shocked to find this a very common occurrence in classes and in the passageways, in fact, once he looked closer, he found that Hermione and Luna seemed to be the only girls who would talk to Ginny. He was even more shocked to discover the reason for this when talking to Ron and Hermione during a rare moment he was not with Ginny.

"Well Harry, you remember how last year was," Indeed he did, nearly twenty girls had shown up to Quidditch tryouts with no intention of trying out for the team, then there was the incident with Romilda Vane and the love potion. Hermione seemed to know he was remembering that. "you need to watch what you eat and drink Harry, Romilda Vane hasn't given up. In fact she's started a club of girls that love you and hate Ginny." If Harry was upset by this, it was nothing compared to the look of fury on Ginny's face. "WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Ginny was fairly screaming at this point and everyone in the common room was staring, Hermione looked rather scared as she tried to calm Ginny and answer. "Well Ginny, its just you know, the same reasons you like Harry make him appealing to a lot of other girls, plus he's a hero about four times over now. Not to mention Romilda Vane's always been after Harry, and then you got him, you cant blame her for not liking you." Far from calming Ginny, Hermione's explanation caused her famous Weasley Woman Temper to flair even farther.

"What do you mean 'all the same reasons'? I do not love Harry just because he's famous, or good looking, or the savior of the wizarding world. I love him because he's such a good person, and he cares about everyone else more then about himself, and he's brave, and noble, and… and… and…" She trailed off, seeming to realize that she was still screaming and had just proclaimed her love for Harry in front of almost all of Gryffindor, then continued on anyway. "And if that little tramp thinks she can take him from me, or even thinks about trying it I'll… I'll… I'll" Ginny trailed off again, apparently too angry to think of a punishment for Romilda she stormed off up the stairs to the girls dormitory, still fuming with rage.

"How much you want to bet next time we see Romilda Vane she has great flying Bogy's attacking her?" Asked Ron. "Almost certain." Answered Harry grinning. Ginny had just screamed her love for him to the entire common room along with several reasons for it. He felt like the luckiest man alive at the moment, he always did when Ginny was around, but the feeling was more pronounced now. His thoughts were interupted when, sure enough, Romilda Vane came running through the common room a few minutes later, screaming, with a huge black, flapping cloud following her. Ginny came through the common room a moment later, looking less upset, and slightly pleased with herself. She came and sat down next to Harry, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him.

"Feel better now?" He asked several breathless minutes later. "Remind me never to ask for a divorce." Ginny smirked for a moment, then realized what he just said and blushed as he not seen her do since the first time he met her at The Burrow. "Harry James Potter are you saying your going to marry me?" She was yelling again, and everyone was watching anxiously. "Yes I am." He didn't say it loudly, though everyone heard it anyway, and Ginny had tears in her eyes, her lip was trembling, then she started crying all out, and fled the common room up to the girl's dormitories. "Well I thought she would take it better then that, Hermione, what was that about?" "You mean the crying and running away?" She asked. "No Hermione the other confusing thing she just did." Harry wasn't usually sarcastic, but he was worried about her. "Well, I think she must be in shock and she'll come around, or she hates you and doesn't ever want to see you again. Which do you think it is?" She was just as sarcastic as he had been, not used to being addressed that way, also not used to her best friend basically proposing, and in a little shock herself. She knew that Harry and Ginny were meant for each other, and knew that they were in love, but she hadn't thought Harry knew he was that in love.

"Well she better get over it quickly, hasn't she been dreaming about it for about, oh, her whole life anyway Ron?"

"Yeah mate she has, now imagine if your wildest dreams suddenly came true, how would you feel?"

"Ronald Weasley that was the most insightful thing you've ever said." Hermione said this just before throwing herself onto Ron and kissing him much the way Ginny had been kissing Harry a few minutes ago. Harry smiled at his friends love, then left the common room to give his friends some privacy, or as much as could be had in the crowded common room.

After spending every waking moment with Ginny over the last week, Harry found being alone in his office very lonely and depressing. After what seemed like the thousandth explanation of how to combat a Bogart from his third years, Harry left the rest in favor of his bed. He had not yet managed to close his eyes when his door opened, seemingly of its own accord, and closed again. Then he felt one side of his bed shift, as Ginny pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and laid down next to him. "Yes." She only said one word, and it was all Harry wanted to hear. He wrapped her in his arms and they feel asleep together. _**A/N: once again, sorry perverts, not his time. **_

_**A/N: Rather a short chapter, sorry, but I have a big trip tomorrow so I don't have a whole lot of time. I just wanted to have the gang sit back and be almost normal for a while, and this was the best I could do. No Harry did not just propose, I have better idea's for that, so be ready for it. I just put the "Yes" in there to let everyone know Ginny's feelings about it. Hope you enjoyed it. Please READ AND REVIEW! Thanks!**_

_**WoLf At BaY **_


	12. Chapter 12

-1Hermione drifted into deep thought mood as she watched Ginny leave the Common Room, the younger girl was so happy. She had spent years being told stories about Harry, she had had a huge crush on him for years, now not only were they together, Harry seemed to want to marry her, he had a way of making people's dreams come true. Her thoughts turned to her own relationship, it had taken her and Ron nearly six years to realize how they felt, and it was worth every second of waiting. Hermione sincerely hoped that Ron might take a leaf out of Harry's book and get marriage into his head.

She sighed heavily, it would probably take him another six years to get there. She didn't understand why though, it was obvious they were in love, and he had to know that, they had been through so much together, they knew each other well enough for him to be able to tell. And they had been through a lot together, who else could say that they met their boyfriend fighting a twelve foot troll? Neither of them had been through nearly as much as Harry and Ginny though, it was natural that they were closer, and natural that Harry would want to be as close as possible to the woman he loved. Her thoughts drifted idly to what they would do when the war was over, would Ron want to get married? What would they do for a loving? With her O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s she could do anything she wanted, and Ron could get a lot of jobs, the idea of being married to a star Quidditch player had its appeals.

The next morning dawned to many happy people, and a few unhappy ones. Harry awoke wondering where he was and why everything was red, before he realized he had fallen asleep face-down in Ginny's hair. He laid there for what felt like eternity, he sincerely hoped it was, before his content smile turned to concern, he was a teacher, in a school, in bed with one of his students, he was no stranger to rule breaking, but this might be pushing it. He reluctantly moved out of bed to get dressed hardly noticing the extra additions to the room until he came out of the shower. Ginny was awake by now, and getting dressed. Harry was wondering where she had gotten fresh clothes, when he noticed that another of the wardrobes was open, and there was a second trunk in the room.

"How did all of your stuff get in here?"

"I asked Dobby to bring it in last night while we were asleep." A dark crimson blush rose to her face as she told him this, which Harry found rather attractive this early in the morning.

"What in the world did I do to deserve you?" Asked Harry. Nothing as good as Ginny had ever happened to him, nor was it likely to again.

Ginny ignored the question and hummed to herself as she finished dressing. Harry could have sworn it was "Here Comes the Bride". They were greeted in the Great Hall by a bemused look from Hermione and a guilty look from Ron. Harry assumed that they had spent the night together as well, until a bright red envelope was dropped on his lap.

"Oh no, Ron what did you do?" Demanded Ginny as the envelope began to smoke.

"What? Nothing, well I might have told someone where someone else is living now, but I did think he'd send a Howler."

"You didn't think who would send a Howler?"

Ginny's question was answered before Ron had a chance to talk when Bill's voice filled the Great Hall, and the blood rushed to Harry's face.

"POTTER! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW DEAD YOU ARE! I'LL BE SEEING YOU LATER THIS EVENING, I SUGGEST YOU SET YOUR AFFAIRS IN ORDER."

"Well that wasn't so bad." Said Harry as his face returned to its normal color.

"You don't know Bill, Harry he might just actually kill you." The fear in Ginny's face was enough to make Harry gulp visably.

A large, slightly underfed dog was running through the Forbidden Forest. It was too soon to come back, he knew it wasn't part of the plan, but Dumbledore hadn't been supposed to die either, it was time to improvise, and Harry would need help. Besides he promised he would look after him. The dog ran on, heading towards Hogwarts.

Classes today had been worse for Harry then ever before, how was he supposed to teach when the whole school seemed to know, and talk about, who's bed the best looking girl at Hogwarts had slept in last night. The absolute worst was Ginny's class, she was nearly in tears by the end of the day, she had been attacked twice already, and almost every girl in the school was scathingly mean to her. Not that it was a picnic for Harry either, he had to deal with amused looks from friends and teachers, a repremand from McGonnagal, and Ginny's own class. There was so much snickering going on while he was talking it was a miracle if anyone could here him. He was blushed to his ears the entire time, and students kept shifting their eyes between him and Ginny, as if expecting them to do something out of the ordinary.

Harry was so releaved to be done with his classes, he had completely forgotten about Bill, who had not forgotten about him. The eldest Weasley brother did not look happy as he pointed Harry to a chair. Harry sat down and waited for Bill to go off on him, but was surprised by the civil tone he was addressed with.

"Well Harry it seems you have realized how fully you've captured my sisters heart. She always loved you, you know, since she was born and heard your story. I cant say that I'm happy with you two living together, but I also know it could be worse, and no one else can make her as happy as you can. So I'm going to forgo trying to scare you, I'm sure you can imagine just how bad I will hurt you if you hurt her, again, then the rest of my brothers too. Just don't to anything too consequential ok? I'm not ready to be an uncle yet."

Harry was releaved and shocked, he was pretty sure that he had just gotten Bill's blessing to sleep with Ginny, and could not find the words so he just nodded.

"Relax Harry, I already told you I'm not going to threaten you, Ginny would kill me if I did, she worse then the six of us combined you know, so be careful. Hell hath no fury and all that."

"Yeah I wouldn't want her mad at me, and don't worry, I'm not sure I could live without Ginny, and I would die before letting her get hurt."

The rest of the evening with Bill passed on more frivolous subjects, and Harry hoped the rest of Ginny's brothers would be this civil about things.

The castle loomed in the darkness, just a few miles away, and the dog faltered in its progress, wondering if he was doing the right thing. He might ruin everything by going back now, but Harry needed someone now, and who better then him? He ran on, his mind made up, heading towards the castle.

Harry and Bill were interrupted sometime later by a breathless Hermione, looking as though she had just run a marathon. She burst into the room in near hysterics screaming for him to come with her. His initial thought was that something had happened to Ginny, but if it had, Hermione wouldn't be this upset, she'd be trying to keep him calm, that meant Ron. He rushed out of the room with her, Bill right beside him, apparently thinking the same thing. They sprinted down the entrance hall together and Harry stopped dead after he saw what the commotion was about. Nearly the entire Order was there, grouped around one man, all with similar looks of amazement and disbelief on their faces.

"But… your dead! I saw you die! You cant be here… your dead!"

Severus Snape paced his chambers fuming. The Dark Lord was angry with everything it seemed, he had now twice failed to capture Potter and kill his brat. Voldemort was known for taking out his rage on those closest to him, after Bella died, it was Snape who bore the brunt of his masters anger. He been charges with killing Potter's little girlfriend, he didn't know why, every time they tried it ended badly for them and good for the Order, but he didn't question orders. But how to do it? That blasted Potter might be as aregant as his father, but he had learned, he kept his loved one close, and almost certainly had a means of coming to their aid immediately. Snape paced his chambers for several more minutes before the idea hit him. It was ingenius, so obvious he had overlooked it, and if he had, Potter would too, trusting fool that he is.

Harry stood toe to toe with a man he had never expected to see again. The haunted look was still there, but he seemed better fed then usual, the thing that really got him though was that Harry was nearly as tall as his godfather now. Sirius Black seemed to have an affinity for strange re-appearences, this was the second time he had cone it in four years.

"But I saw you die, I was there, you got hit with The Curse, then fell through The Veil, how can you be here? How can you be alive?" Everyone else had gone silent, awaiting the same answers Harry was. Sirius looked thoughtful for a minute, then decided to tell the truth.

"I was never dead, Dumbledore faked my death, I'll tell you why Harry but you wont like it," Harry nodded for him to continue. "He needed you to lose someone else close to you." The assembled people looked shocked at this pronouncement, but Harry just wanted the whole story. "That's the secret to your power Harry, think about it, twice this year you nearly lost the person closest to you, and both times you threw the laws of magic out the window to save her, that's why you needed to lose me, your fear of loss is your power."

Everyone was even more stunned by this revalation, except Harry, who had been suspecting something like this, but thought it was only Ginny that unlocked his stores of power. He embraced his godfather, happy to once again have a real father figure in his life, even if Sirius acted seventeen, and wasn't much of a father, more of an uncle.

_**Ha bet you didn's see that one coming? **_ _**I just now decided where this story is going, so bear with me. Action comming soon, I swear, I'm back in school so things are going slower, sorry about that. But on the plus side i have an available proof reader so expect longer, better chapters, still shooting for 500,000 words, about 60 chapters now, long epilog, maybe a sequel but lets not get ahead of ourselves. READ AND REVIEW my friends**_

_**ThE wOlF aT bAy**_


	13. Chapter 13

-1_**HEY HEY! Sorry it's been a while. Very busy. This is going to be long, and pretty dark, my least favorite chapter, I'm going to hate writing it, angst fans will love it, I have an Emo helping me. Sorry to all those who will be upset with some of the things that are going to happen. I never intended to do this, but I have too, in order for the story to work out. Please R&R.**_

_**P.S. there is a minor Star Wars influence in here, special prize to the person who finds it first.**_

_**P.P.S. I'm sorry for misleading you, we won't even approach 100,000 words, sorry about that. I overestimated myself. My new, more realistic goal is 10,000 for this one, 60,000 for my next one, which will throw canon out the freakin window. I'll start it by Halloween I think. Only about 5-10 more chapters for this one.**_

_**Crazylordvoldie: thank you for the review, I know they're getting owned, but they deserve it, right? More to come. Enjoy!**_

Ginny Weasley was walking up the Hogwarts grounds alone, she had stayed late in class to help Hagrid, thinking about how wonderful her life was now. Sure there was the war, and the fact that Harry had to fight Voldemort, but that all seemed so distant at the moment, becuase Harry had said he wanted to marry her. She had drempt of that nearly all her life, never really thinking it could happen, after all, the famous Harry Potter could probably have any woman in the world, why would he want her? But he did, and she had never been so happy in her life, living with Harry was better then any of the numerous dreams she had had about it, she always felt so safe in his arms, and she knew that he was sleeping better with her. All they had done was sleep of course, they both agreed with Bill on that subject, but it was still intoxicating to spend the night with him. She already had Hermione call her Mrs. Potter a few times, just to see how it sounded, and it sounded good, very good, but she hoped Hermione wouldn't tell anyone, it would be too embarrassing.

Ginny was ripped from her thoughts of being Mrs. Potter when a spell hit her square in the back, she fell hard to the ground, barely able to move, and never saw the second spell that hit her, but knew that it was The Cruciartus Curse. The pain she was feeling was indescribable, it was even worse then dieing, she tried to scream for Harry, but the words wouldn't come out, all she could do was writhe in pain before passing out.

Harry's head jerked up from his desk, where he had been grading papers, in shock and alarm. He could feel a trace of pain in his body, almost like the Crusiartus Curse would feel, but far too weak, still he knew something was wrong. He took the Marauders Map out of his trunk and began scanning the castle looking for anything unusual, he just barely caught sight of the end of Ginny's name disappearing into the Forbidden Forest, and his stomach dropped. That was the pain he had felt, anger started to swirl in with dread, someone had put his Ginny under the Crusiartus Curse, then dragged her off the grounds into the forest, it could only be Death Eaters. Death Eaters who were going to die.

Harry wanted to panic, he wanted to explode and tear off into the forest to look for Ginny, but somehow his mind kept calm and dictated his heart. He summoned all available Order members to his office and told them what had happened. He saw several faces, especially Lupin's, pale at the news. He waved it off, thinking everyone was worried about Ginny, but Lupin was actually worried about what would happen when Harry lost control this time.

"We need to start searching any place Voldemort might be hiding, and I mean anywhere, don't pass over anything, use every contact you have, I don't care how remote, just find them. Moony is there any way you could contact the Werewolves? I think it's time to make peace with them."

"Yes Harry I could, but you'd have to really fold over to win them over." 

"Tell them whatever they want, they have it, just get them on our side."

If the Order was shocked to hear this, it was nothing compared to his next statements.

"We're shifting our full focus to the search, drop everything else, every resource goes into finding Ginny, Sirius, I have a feeling Snape might be behind this, so I'm going to ask you not to kill him."

"Harry, I really think that if anyone deserves to kill _Snivillous _ it's me, I spent twelve years in Azkaban, largely thanks to him."

"I know Sirius, but he just crossed a line in the sand, now he's in my sights, and it would be very foolish to try to get to him before I do."

McGonagall couldn't hold her opinion any longer, she felt for Harry, and wanted to find Miss Weasley too, no one should be left to the Death Eaters of course, but this was too much.

"Harry surely it is not necessary to focus only on finding Miss Weasley, granted it is a tragedy, but there are more lives at stake here then hers and yours…." she trailed off in fear at the look in Harry's eyes, and the wand in his hand.

"Yes that's completely true, I just don't happen to care at all, find her!"

Sirius sighed in resignation, Harry was just as stubborn as James had been, especially about women. He hoped for Voldemort's sake that nothing bad happened to Ginny before they found her, Harry was scary when it came to her, and Sirius suspected that they may have started a Heart Bond, which was an extremely dangerous thing to do. If she died, Harry just might wipe out all of Britain in his anger.

No one else dared question Harry's orders, and Minerva was fairly scared by what she had seen, so they all set out combing through everything and everyone they knew, trying to find some clue as to Ginny's whereabouts.

Severus Snape smiled at the unconscious redhead on the floor, the Dark Lord would reward him most generously for this, once the potion was finished, Potter would stand no chance. It was just too bad the girl was so pretty, she would not have an easy death, Greyback especially was eyeing her. A shiver ran down Snape's spine at the thought of what was going to happen to this girl, he almost felt sorry for her, then again, according to the reports from several of Hogwarts students, she was all but married to Potter, she deserved what she got. All thought left his mind as his master entered the room.

"Severus you have done well once again, truly you are the greatest of my servants."

"I live to serve the Dark Lord."

"The potion is nearly complete is it not?"

"Yes my lord, as soon as the moon cycle is complete."

"Excellent. Then the only question is which of my faithful Death Eaters deserves this treat before she dies, who shall it be then?"

Every Death Eater in the room held their breath, knowing the Dark Lord would not tolerate them speaking out of turn, but hoping it would be them.

"Ah young Theodore, you have not been the most active of my new recruits, but the information you have gotten from inside Hogwarts has been invaluable, and led to the girls capture in the first place, I think you will have the pleasure."

Theodore Nott breathed again, he had always been picky with girls, and had to admit the redhead had caught his attention more then once. This would show Potter up, he smiled vindictively.

"Thank you master," He bowed low. "you are most generous."

"Take her and do what you will, Severus be ready, I want Potter dead by the end of the week."

The assembled Death Eaters dispersed, Snape heading for his Potions Room, Nott levitating the unconscious girl, the rest looking jealous. Theodore found a nice cell in the basement, locked the girl in, and sat down to wait, contemplating exactly how he would torture her, and later Potter.

Harry had not slept for three days, not because he didn't want to, because he couldn't, he could now constantly feel the dull pain that told him Ginny was in constant agony, and it was killing him that he could do nothing about it. He had stopped teaching after the first day, Sirius was filling in for him, and was constantly on edge. He had cursed one Order member pretty badly, when the man suggested that he should accept the inevitable, the man was still in St. Mungo's.

Sirius was scared for Harry, he hadn't slept in days and was barely eating, he was going to burn out soon if they didn't find Ginny. The problem was that she seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. A week of non-stop searching had yielded less then nothing. Not even the tiniest whisper of Voldemort's location could be heard. Lupin had gone to the Werewolves, and most of them had turned to the Light, after the promise of equal rights, immediately, with wizards. The public was still outraged by this, and Sirius knew for a fact that Harry had attacked The Minister to force the passing of the new law. But it was doing nothing to lighten Harry's depression, the only time he would speak to anyone was when they were giving reports, and those only served to further upset his godson. They had tried everything anyone could think of to find Ginny, every spell, charm, curse, and potion known to wizard-kind, and all had failed. Sirius shuddered at the thought of what could be happening to her right now, and what would happen if it was, when Harry found out.

Harry was pacing his quarters, as he had taken to doing, reading and re-reading every report from every obscure source, and still finding nothing that would help him locate his love. He knew she was in constant pain, and not all of it magical, she was being physically abused as well, and hatred would surely have overtaken him if not for the mix of grief, worry, depression, and strangely hope, that filled his body. He wouldn't give up, he wouldn't go crazy and destroy something like he wanted too, there was a way to find her, and he would, he had the best and brightest working for him after all, and that would be the time to destroy things. Harry would barely allow anyone to get too close to his Ginny in a friendly manor, he was a little overprotective, but the thought of her being tortured was feeding the fires of rage inside him. He would find her, and then there would be hell to pay for whoever had her, he had some spells now that would really hurt, and Harry wasn't feeling particularly noble at the moment. He had to save her, and he would do everything he could to protect her.

Ginny screamed in pain for what felt like the millionth time, and probably was, as if The Crusiartus Curse wasn't bad enough, Nott had found out that certain parts of her body were particularly susceptible to physical pain. Her chest felt like it was burning, it had felt very nice the few times Harry had caressed her breasts, but being squeezed and pinched like that for hours on end was not only painful, but humiliating as well. It was a very large miracle that she had not yet been raped, she didn't know how she could face any of her friends and family, let alone Harry, if that happened. It was going to be bad enough telling them what Nott had spent the last nine hours doing, she hated being touched by anyone but Harry, she knew it would kill him inside when he found out.

Nott laughed at the girls pain when he gave her a hard pinch in the right place, he had decided to take things slowly, he didn't want to kill her anytime soon, besides, there was a very good chance he could make Potter watch when things got more, exciting. That would teach the little half-blood lesson, the Dark Lord always got to people using those close to them, it was fitting, and grammatically ironic, that Potter would be broken watching what he planned. Ginny's screams continued.

Harry lay in bed, tossing and turning, thinking and planning, but not actually sleeping, for the sixth night in a row. He might as well just give it up, he knew he wasn't going to sleep without Ginny next to him, probably never would be able to again without her there. He had so few people love him in his life, his parents had, and they died to protect him, Sirius hadn't died, but well, he still spent twelve years in Azkaban, then four more on the run, he suspected Dumbledore had, but now the Headmaster was gone too. Everyone who loved him, everyone who was close to him, Voldemort had killed them all, only Ginny was left, _but she wont last much longer, _ the thought came unbidden into his mind. He fought against the despair trying to overtake him, trying to cling to hope, but he just wasn't strong enough anymore. Harry broke down and cried for the first time since Sirius he'd thought Sirius was dead, Ginny was the only one left, if he lost her too… she had been kidnapped by Voldemort twice, possessed by him once, and actually killed by a Death Eater, it was all his fault, well maybe not so much the diary, but his friendship with Ron certainly hadn't helped at the time, and Riddle had said that he used Ginny as bait to kill him.

Harry gave up on sleep, he didn't want to sleep without Ginny anyway, and turned his attention to his research on Voldemort's hideouts from the first war. It was unlikely that he would be using one of these, but Harry had nothing else to go on. Pouring through old reports and memories from The Pensieve, he soon gave it up as a lost cause, he had another idea on how he could get to Voldemort, but it wasn't a particularly attractive idea, it was extremely dangerous, and everyone was going to try and stop him.

Snape downed the contents of the goblet with a look of disgust on his face usually reserved for Potter, he hated the taste of this potion, and the unique addition only made it taste worse in his opinion, blood traitors. He was now ready to return to Hogwarts, and with a little luck, he could have Potter back here in an hour easily, after all, Potter was a hormonal teenage boy, and would not object to a few suggestions, then it would be a simple matter of stunning him.

Harry fairly flew down the four flights of stairs to the Entrance Hall, Hermione's message had sounded cheerful and excited, and that could only mean one thing in Harry's mind. He rounded another corner and The Hall came into view, there was only flight of stairs to go, but at the sight of a long mane of red hair, he decided moments mattered and jumped the whole staircase, to pull Ginny into a hug. The relief that should have flooded his mind did not, however, and the first thing Harry noticed was that Ginny delayed for half a moment in hugging him back, this was unusual, but Harry wrote it off to her being in shock, or even him being paranoid. The second thing he noticed, erased his doubt in his paranoia, as he realized he couldn't feel Ginny, which The Heart Bond should allow him to do, with the amount of emotion he was feeling, and she should be feeling, his body should be pounding with energy. The third thing he felt was the now familiar shade of pain that meant Ginny was being tortured.

He pulled back quickly from Ginny, searching her eyes, they were lacking the warmth and love he knew to be his Ginny. Something was wrong, very wrong, days of torture could account for her hesitation, maybe even the lack of feeling in her chocolate eyes, but not for the lack of emotion and excess of pain he was feeling from her, this was not Ginny Weasley. A whirl of idea's flew through his mind, until resting on the most obvious, a simple stunning spell and an hours time would test that.

Severus Snape knew he was in trouble, _how can the boy possibly know? The potion was perfect, there's no way he can kn-_ Snape's thoughts were cut off by the stunning spell that hit him in the face.

Mrs. Weasley was shocked to see her daughter back, how had she managed to escape? But was even more shocked when Harry stunned her. In fact breathing in the Hall had apparently stopped all together, only Sirius was able to stammer out a question.

"Because that's not Ginny." Answered Harry coldly.

"It bloody well looks like her Harry!" Yelled an angry Ron.

"Yes and we bloody well looked like Crabbe and Goyle in our second year didn't we?"

Realization dawned on Ron and Hermione's faces, but no one else knew what they were talking about.

"As I said, this is not Ginny, this is a Death Eater using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate her."

_**A/N Good job to everyone who figured it out!!!!**_

It took about three minutes for everyone to accept this, fortunately Harry did not have to explain about the Heart Bond, the unlikelihood of Ginny escaping on her own, and the fact that Harry knew her better then anyone else, seemed to be enough, even for Mrs. Weasley. Everyone wanted to know which Death Eater it was, but Harry insisted that only himself and Sirius guard the prisoner. They moved the person down to Snape's old office, now empty, and sat down to wait. It didn't take long, apparently it taken a while for them to get to Hogwarts, before the hair shortened and darkened, the body grew, and the face changed from that of Ginny Weasley to that of Severus Snape.

"Excellent." Said both Harry and Sirius at the same time. Harry because this was the best hope in the world, to find Ginny, Sirius because he could now have his revenge. Harry awoke Snape after binding him, and removing his wand.

"So Sirius, should we even bother to torture him, or just kill him?" Harry asked the question in total honesty, he would have killed Snape in an instant.

"Oh no Harry, I think we should string it out a little bit at least, I mean Death Eaters never bother with mercy, why should we? Besides think of the things he could tell us, that greasy head must have something useful in it."

"Please Potter, you haven't got the ability, or the mental fortitude, to torture anyone, and barely enough to kill." Every word from Snape's mouth seemed to sting Harry, but it wasn't that words, it was the fact that they were probably true. There was only one way to find out though, "Crucio." Harry hated this curse more then any other, but he firmly believed that Snape deserved to feel it. The last time he had attempted to cast it, he had failed miserably, not this time. Snape was screaming terribly, unable to thrash in pain, for a full two minutes before Harry released the curse. Snape was looking up at him with a combination of hatred and awe on his face, as well as pain, before Harry cast his next spell. "Imperio." It was another Unforgivable Curse, one he had hoped never to use, but it had the desired effect, as he forced Snape to break his own arm, after he untied it.

"Now _Snivillous_ I'd really like to know where Voldemort is hiding, I think you should tell me before I get more, creative, we do have Lupin upstairs…."

Unfortunately Snape refused to talk, and Harry let Sirius have his revenge for a while. He knew he should hate himself for this, knew it should be making him sick, but in fact it gave him a vindictive pleasure, watching the enemy scream in pain and beg for mercy, it was about time. After four hours, during which nearly every bone in Snape's body was broken, along with worse injuries, Harry produced a bottle of Veritaserum, forcing Snape to drink it, he diligently recorded every word the ex-Potions Master said.

"Leave him in Little Hanglton under our mark." Sirius nodded. Harry turned his wand on Snape. "Avada Kadavra." Severus Snape took his last breath as a gasp of fear, though Potter had surprised him in the last day, he never thought the boy would be capable of cold blooded murder. It was his last mistake.

Nott paced the small cell, lost in thought, and worry, occasionally throwing a curse at the still crying redhead. Something must be wrong, Snape should have been back by now, Potter should be here too, watching his little girlfriend get passed around the Death Eaters, something had to be wrong, the Polyjuice Potion would have worn off hours ago. If the plan had failed, if Snape had been captured, Potter would know where they were, he would come for the girl, fear almost gripped Nott, before he reassured himself that his master would protect him. It was a mistake he would regret for the rest of his short life.

Nearly the entire Order of the Phoenix was gathered on the Hogwarts grounds. Thirty five witches and wizards were going to follow Harry to assault Voldemort's main stronghold, they would be slaughtered like sheep. He took a deep breath and turned to address the people who had sworn to fight for him.

"I wont order you to come with me, it's going to be the fight of our lives, and I doubt most of you will come out it unharmed, or even alive. So I'm asking for volunteers, anyone who doesn't want to come, I wont think any less of you, I don't even want to do this."

Every single hand went up, every one of them was going to follow him straight into hell. He heart swelled, and for the first time in almost two weeks, he felt a surge of hope, if they could keep the Death Eaters off his back, this might just work. If it didn't, well he wouldn't be around to worry about things then anyway. Remus Lupin stepped forward that point, and Harry thought he could feel a speech coming. "Harry you've done more in this war then anyone else before you has, if anyone deserves to be as happy as possible its you. I'll go to hell and back to get her back for you, you deserve her."

Harry felt pride course through him, it was good to know he still had friends by his side, ready to fight and die for him, he just hoped it was more of the former and less of the latter. They all Apperated to the large castle in Albania Snape had told them about, the hair stood up on the back of Harry's neck, he could feel Ginny much clearer now, and was even more angry then he had been at Malfoy Manor, Theodore Nott was not going to have a quick death. This was not a good thing though, he was having trouble concentrating through the pain and sorrow he was feeling through The Bond, he would have to get to Ginny first, before he did any fighting.

"Sirius, Moony, stay with me, the rest of you, give 'em hell."

The Order moved out around the castle, it wasn't well defended, most of the Death Eaters were still in Britain, and only Voldmort's inner circle knew about this place, but the Death Eaters that were here would be in the dungeons, they would also be Voldemort's strongest killers.

Harry, Remus, and Sirius snuck into a small corridor, it looked like it might have been meant for house elves, that led them to a set of downward stairs. It was eerily quite in the dungeons, Harry was still feeling Ginny's constant aching pain, and her hopelessness, but she was not being actively tortured at the moment. This was lucky for Voldemort, if she had been, he might have just destroyed the entire castle to simplify things. But he didn't want to lose control if he could help it, not yet anyway.

"We're getting closer, once we find her, Sirius I want you to get her back to Hogwarts as fast as you can. I know you don't like running from a fight, but I don't trust anyone else to do it, so please, get her safe, then come back if you want. Moony, grab Nott and bring him to Snape's old office. Don't question it or try to talk me out of it."

Neither man saw any sense in arguing, Sirius figured he should have plenty of time to get Ginny to the hospital wing, then come back for some honest fighting. Remus was less happy with his orders, he was pretty sure he knew why Harry wanted Nott in the particular office, and was not happy about the reason for it, but knew better then to try and change Harry's mind. They rounded another corner, and muffled screams and sobbing became audible, coming from behind a heavy wooden door at the end of the corridor. Harry tensed noticeably, and Sirius felt a surge of energy from his godson, there would probably be nothing left of this castle by the end.

"Sirius take the left, Remus take the right side, I'm going straight in, cover me, but be careful."

Sirius and Remus took positions on either side of the door, wands ready, as Harry performed a very complex looking charm, and the door vanished completely. Harry dove through the now unobstructed doorway, firing about six stunners as he went, and the older wizards fired more over his head. Nott never even had a chance, he had only just realized the door was gone, when four stunners hit him in the chest. Harry dove through they one-time door to land on his left side, wand arm free and looking for a new target. Sirius and Remus were standing to either side of the door, covering the corridor once checking that Harry was unopposed.

A brief inspection of Ginny revealed her to be relatively unharmed, no boned were broken at any rate. She was unconscious, most likely from shock and exauhstion, not to mention the effects of The Cruciartus Curse. And her shirt was ripped to shreds, leaving her very much exposed. Anger coursed though Harry's vain's as he covered the redhead in his school robes. This was his girlfriend, _his _Ginny, and someone else had touched her, far too intimately, too cause her pain. She had been tortured, probably because of him. The almost familiar uncontrolled rage coursed though Harry once again, his eyes glowed as he handed Ginny to Sirius, Remus took Nott, and they both activated their port keys.

Harry thought about his first kiss with Ginny, it seemed like so long ago, and sent his Patrounus to let the other Order members know they should leave, he didn't want any of them hurt. A good minute late the entire castle began to shake, Death Eaters were panicing, most had no idea what was going on. The castle began to crumble just before a masive Explosion Hex blew hundreds of tons of stone and morter outward, effectively destroying Voltemort's most secure base.

"ASCENTIO FIONTI!"

Once more the giant red and gold phoenix rose into the air to hover above the remains of the Death Eaters, marking the place where light stood against dark, and triumphed.

The force of light, one Harry Potter, was sitting in the Hogwarts infirmary, waiting for the redhead he was in love with to wake up. She had been asleep for nearly two days, being tortured for so long tended to leave one drained. Both of them were completely exhausted, and no wonder, the burst of magic which had destroyed Voldemort's castle had been felt miles away, and had been recorded by three separate Ministry's of Magic as a class five magical anomaly. He had badly scared most of Europe, many had thought there was an earthquake, and he had horrified his friends, once they learned that he had stayed alone behind them.

Hermione had been in hysterics all day, and Ron less so only because he was trying to comfort her. Both had been outraged when they found out that Harry had made the Order leave without him, then scared nearly to death by the state of exhaustion he was in. They were all three worried about Ginny, that amount of tourture could affect one's brain, just look at the Longbottoms. Neither Ron nor Hermione believed that Harry would continue to live, let alone fight, without Ginny. He had already lost nearly everyone else he loved or who had loved him, and he almost drove her away himself. If anything too serious happened to Ginny, Harry would either explode, and probably take everyone on the planet with him, or simply give up, and waste away. Not that they were weren't worried about Ginny for her own sake too, but a lot more then just one life were riding on whether or not Harry won the war.

Ginny's eyes flickered again, she didn't see, able to keep them open. It took her a few moments to figure out why, there was a tangle of very messy, very black hair next to her, Harry's, she realized. But that couldn't be, something about that must be wrong. She had been captured by Death Eaters, she was being held prisoner and tortured, her body gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of Notts's hands on her again. So how could she be laying a warm, confortable bed, apparently next to Harry? There was only one way to find out.

"Wha- wuz goin on? I told you I'm not leaving…" Harry's words were disjointed, he had been sleeping pretty heavily.

"Very romantic dear, but I'd love to know where I am, and how I got here." Ginny was touched by her boyfriends refusal to leave her side, but she wanted answers, quickly, and she was not known for being patient. Harry's head snapped up at the sound of her voice, and relieve flooded his tired looking features. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in weeks, he was probably worse off then she was.

"Ginny…." He looked like he wanted to say something else, some sentiment of relief, but he couldn't find the words, so he settled for wrapping his arms around her, with the promise that he would never let her out of his sight again. Thought she normaly would protest, Ginny found the idea very attractive at the moment, so she just curled against him. After what felt like an hour's time, Harry finally lessened his grip to ask her what had happened to her.

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" She wasn't worried about having to relive about what had happened by telling him, she was more concerned about his reaction, and who he would kill when he found out everything.

"Yes, I need to know, and I want to know, I love you, and I want to able to share everything about either of us, good and bad."

And she knew that he meant it, he had told her things about his life that no one else knew, some of it good, most of it horrible. She had vowed on the spot that she would never allow him to be alone the way he had for the first ten years of his life. She would make sure he always had someone to love him, she would always be there to love him. So she went into the naration of the last, worst, two weeks of her life. She told Harry everything, detailed every painful thing Nott had done to her. She told him about how nearly every bone in her body had been broken, healed, then broken again, about being placed under The Cruciartus curse for long periods of time, and about having varius permanently attached body parts, mainly her finger nails, summoned off of her. Harry's composer remained calm and comforting, but Ginny wasn't fooled, she knew Harry too well to miss the rage and anger behind his eyes. She took a deep breath and told Harry about how Nott had taken to fondling her, hard and often, in the most intimate places. It was at this point that Harry lost control of his outer mask, and the anger and hate surfaced, as well as the raw power that so often came with it. She would have been frightened, anyone would have, but she knew Harry would never, could never hurt her, with a certainty she had never felt about anything before. It took several minutes for Harry to control himself again, during which Ginny briefly wondered where Nott was, before deciding she didn't care anyway. He deserved whatever Harry had or would do to him, she just hoped it wouldn't effect Harry mentaly, he had a habit of dwelling on things like that.

Harry stayed with Ginny for the rest of the night, they didn't really talk about anything, they didn't need to, not yet anyway. It was sometime past midnight when Harry untangled himself from the now sleeping redhead, and snuck out of the infirmary. His ultimate destination was Snape's old office. He was very angry, he had kept his rage in check, for Ginny's sake, but know he needed a release, and he knew exactly the person to help with that. This time he would not regret it at all, the thought filled mind as he opened the door.

"You made two mistakes Nott. First, you took the job, second, you enjoyed it. Getting caught was just poetic justice, now its my turn, _Crucio!"_

The pain curse hit the bound Nott in the chest, and this time Harry had problems casting it. His desire to cause this boy pain was justified, and intense, he was enjoying it. The anger had been building up inside him for years, bolstered by grief, and intensified by loss. Ginny was the only person who could make him forget it, and what this scum had done to her… he deserved what was happening, and Harry deserved his revenge. The curse crashed into Nott a second time, and Harry thought he felt a pang of guilt, but it passes too quickly for him to be sure. Nott's screams of pain well like music to Harry's ears, normally they would have sickened him, but Harry just thought of what his love had told him, about how Nott had caused Ginny so much pain, how he had dared to _touch _his Ginny. The curse was no problem for him, and he knew what Bella had meant, you did need to enjoy it, and it wasn't hard to get used too.

_**Authors Note: well there you have it, it took so long because it was very hard for me to right, but it had to be done, please don't sue me for any of the references to other stories, ch. 14 is complete and ready, just waiting for the right time, only four more to go, then its on to Harry Potter and the Witch of Destiny. **_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: only three more to go!!! Major spoiler in this one, anyone who figures it out gets a special sneak peak at Chapter One of Witch of Destiny, anyone who reviews get an early release of the Story Summary. You have reduced me to bribery. Enjoy and don't go too hard on me. More angst and fluff, as I bounce between Emo and Hopeless Romantic. (I'm Bipolar, and we make the best writers)**_

It took four hours for Nott's screams to get through to Harry, and when they finally did so, they hit him hard. He felt pity for Nott, but no remorse or guilt, as he had when Bella, Malfoy, and Snape had died in cold blood at his hands. He wasn't sorry about their deaths, they fully deserved them, but why had _he_ had to kill them? He was a seventeen year old boy at school with a beautiful girlfriend, his number one concern should be her, then Quidditch, then Ron and Hermione, and then maybe schoolwork, but instead the weight of the world was square on his shoulders, and his alone. He knew his friends would try to help him, but he didn't want them scared by this, he was already destroying his own soul, he didn't need them ruining their's as well. He made it out the door and into the hall before the tears came to his eyes and sobs racked his chest. He staggered off towards the infirmary, and the redheaded witch he loved.

Ginny was laying awake in the infirmary, going to sleep without Harry was hard enough for her, under they circumstances, she needed him with her. Hermione had told her earlier just what had been going on for the last few weeks, and she was torn between elation that he cared for her so much, and being furious that he had given Voldemort a free reign for two weeks while he searched for her. He very nearly got the entire Order killed, it wasn't that she wasn't grateful, she just wished Harry hadn't put the entire world at risk to save her. If anything had happened to him, she didn't want to think about that. It Harry died, she wouldn't last much more then a week, and neither would the rest of the world, they all needed him, but her most of all, even without the war, she needed him to live and be happy. She had spent the first ten years of her life hero-worshiping and dreaming about him, then she had actually met him, and had a huge crush on him for five years, then she got him for far too short a time. She had very nearly lost him over the summer, it taken her six months to get him back, and she wouldn't risk losing him again, she would be Mrs. Potter, no matter what it took.

Ginny waited for hours, for the man she loved to come to bed with her. He finally showed up, looking worse then she felt. She decided it was going to be a very long morning, all thoughts of sleep lost, she wrapped her arms around him.

Over the next five days few people saw Harry, he was either locked in the dungeons with Nott, or locked in the infirmary with Ginny. On the evening of the sixth day, Ginny decided it was time to get some things out in the open, she knew Harry well enough to know that something was bothering him. She had an idea about what it was, but she wanted to be sure.

"Harry, you cant keep this up, something is obviously bothering you, and you need to talk about it. Tell me what's wrong, I shared my pain with you, share yours with me."

Harry thought for a moment, then decided that Ginny especially needed to know, it concerned her greatly, "Ginny I doubt that you can understand most of this, but I'm going to tell you anyway, and I trust you not to tell anyone."

Ginny responded without hesitation, she would die to protect Harry, though that would probably kill him slowly and painfully, and that included his secrets. "Not a soul Harry."

Harry took several deep breaths, then launched into a story that he had rehearsed several times, but hoped never to tell.

"From the earliest I can remember the Dursley's treated me like someone they were forced to put up with, I never ate well at all, never got anything new, I've been wearing Dudley's old clothed all my life. I've been forced to do every household chore you can imaging, and some you probably cant., since the age of four. I spent ten years living in a small cupboard under the stairs, sometimes locked in for days at a time, I never got a room until my school letters starting showing up. Every bad thing that ever happened around me was my fault, no matter if it could be or not, some of it was accidental magic, but not much. I was never physically abused, but I think I might have preferred that. Mental abuse is ten times worse by far, imagine living all of your life knowing that no one loves you, and that no one ever will."

Harry's voice failed him, and he choked back the sobs of anguish that threatened to burst forth. But he had to go on, she had a right to know, and he needed her to know this, needed her to understand exactly what he was asking, what he needed.

"I've never had a family. For eleven years I never even had friends. The people I love are the most important things in my life, and that puts you at the very top Ginny, The reason you could never understand this completely is that you've always had a big family to love you, and even if something happened, you would still have sixteen years of memories with them. I never had anything. Now I've seen just how great a loving family can be, I want my own. Don't get me wrong, I do think of myself as kind of part of part of your family, but I need my own, so I'm going to have to start one. Its not something that I can do alone, when this is all over…"

Harry's voice failed him a second time, but Ginny understood the unasked question. It was a lot to consider, not that she needed to, but she wanted to be absolutely sure.

"Harry, I would like nothing more then to raise a family with you. Its all I want out of life, four or five kids, and a long time to be with you. I promise you when this is over, you will never be without family again, beside, your eyes would be terrific with my hair."

Harry tried to laugh at the attempted humor, but the relief and love at Ginny's words flooded his emotions and all he could do was cry into her shoulder, a mix of joy at her promise, and fear of losing her. Ginny soon joined him in his tears, the sorrow of his life not unforgotten, and the tears of joy lessened. She was torn between sadness at the cruelty of Harry's life, and elation at knowledge that Harry wanted her to be his wife, and have his children. She had always dreamt of being swept off her feet by a knight in shining armor, Harry, and he had lived up to and surpassed her dreams. If they could just keep each other alive, she would give him everything he ever dreamed of, he had already given her everything she wanted, well except for the ring.

Harry knew that he could not live without Ginny, the last two weeks had proven that beyond a doubt. She hadn't even been dead, and it had nearly killed him, though no one knew just how close it had been. Torrents of sorrow and grief came welling up to the surface, he had never really cried for his parents, or for Sirius, but somehow everything just seemed to come up and reawaken inside him. Everyone he had loved had been taken from him, but he promised himself that his mother would be the only redhead on that list, ever. Without Ginny, he wouldn't even try to live, there would be no reason to.

"Ginny, I want to finish it, the Heart Bond, lets complete it." Harry barely managed to get the words out around his sobs, but come they did.

"Are you sure you can do it? I want to, but your not exactly at your best at the moment."

Harry didn't answer, he just placed the tip of his want over Ginny's heart, while she did the same to him. There was no verbal incantation, no mere spell could handle the amount of power this took. Harry concentrated on his feelings for Ginny, on their first kiss, the first time they had spent the night together, the night he had told her he would marry her, all of these feelings willed forth the power to bond them together. As his passion grew, he could feel more and more of Ginny, her thoughts and feeling melded with his own, as their souls became one. The final pulse of magical energy that finally bonded them together rivaled that of when Harry had brought her back from the dead. It left Harry to exhausted to even say the three words he was thinking before he fell asleep, but Ginny still heard his voice in his head, telling her he loved her.

Ginny stayed awake for a while longer, exploring Harry's thoughts and emotions. She was scared by what she found, there was so much pain and sorrow in him, and so much fear, fear mostly for her. Pain and sorrow at the losses of his life. But there was also love, and need, again mostly for her, the exact lever of Harry's devotion had been unknown to her until now. Harry would literally die without her, all of his will to live was centered on her, and the future he held for him. Had anyone else been in the infirmary at the time, they would have seen the look of shock and amazement on Ginny's face as she curled up to Harry, and fell asleep.

A Heart Bond really was a remarkable thing. Both Harry and Ginny shared the same dream that night. And for the first time in a long time, there were no nightmares for either of them.

_Ginny found herself walking down a long dirt road, there were great trees on either side, but it didn't seem to be a forest. It was a very long lane, but she felt compelled to reach the end, there was something there that she wanted very badly. After a surprisingly pleasant walk, the trees gave way to a large grassy field, the amount of sunlight revealed it to be around mid-day, and a very nice summer noon. At the center of the field was a large house, not quite a mansion, it was too modest for that, but large and comfortable looking, she began walking around to the back of the house, she somehow knew that she was completely safe here, and she thought she could hear voices from that direction. _

_As she rounded the corner, she was half shocked, half comforted by what she saw. Harry was there, he looked older, a little taller, but it could be no other then her Harry. But his apparent age was now what shocked her, it was the six young children all around him, listening intently while he explained about safe broomstick riding. The truly fantastic part, however, was the unmistakable, trademark Potter hair on the boys, and the emerald green eyes four of them had. Ginny then noticed that the three girls all had long manes of fire red hair, her hair, and two of them had her own chocolate brown eyes. These were her children! And Harry was their father, it was not an unfamiliar dream to her, but certainly the most vivid she had had, and it now seemed a hundred times more likely then it ever had before. _

_It was then that the kids, her kids, noticed her and abandoned the broom lessons for the moment, they ran toward her with loud cry's of "Mommy!" that warmed Ginny's heart even more then Harry could. She instinctively knelt down to hug her children, she noticed Harry beaming at her, apparently he was dreaming too, and was aware that this was dream, and knowing him he was loving every moment of it. Ginny stood up with the two youngest of her children in her arms, and kissed Harry. _She would make this reality no matter what it took, there was no way she could know that Harry was thinking the same thing as he enjoyed the same dream.

Harry and Ginny returned to everyday life shortly after completing the bond, or as close as could be said under the unique circumstances. Everyone noticed the secret smiles they constantly shared, and how Ginny seemed to positively glowing nearly all the time. If anything Harry seemed even more devoted to her then before, and rarely let her out of her sight, everyone was greatly surprised when Ginny did not complain about his over protectiveness. How could they know that she understood exactly why he did it, and loved him the more for it. He was so vulnerable when it came to her, she could look after herself, but Harry wouldn't trust anyone, not even her, with her safety, besides they got to spend a lot more time together.

Three days later Harry and Ginny were curled up on the sofa in the rooms that had once been Harry's, though the sign now read "The future Potter's" and wouldn't come off. They were just enjoying being together, when Ginny noticed something around where Harry's pocket would be, if he were wearing clothes that had pockets. She wiggled around a few times, much to Harry's enjoyment, but she could still feel it.

"Harry what it that? There's something small and round poking me." Harry hesitated for a minute before answering, making Ginny instantly suspicious, it was exactly the pause Fred and George made when questioned about a prank.

"Well it's a golden snitch." Harry figured he could tell her the truth, just not all of it. He wasn't ready for anyone, especially Ginny, to know that just yet.

"And why are you carrying it around charmed to you body?"

"So I don't lose it." The smart response only made Ginny more curious and more determined.

"And why this particular snitch?" She had a feeling why though.

"It's the snitch you caught last year, when I was in detention."

"Harry I know your not carrying that around just as a reminder of that night, we both know you have much better things to remember it by, so why are you so concerned with not losing that particular snitch?"

Harry deftly avoided the question by kissing Ginny very passionately. It wasn't as intense as that night at Grimauld Place, but it was a good runner up, and distracted Ginny from the mysterious snitch for the rest of the night.

They only had a few hours of peace however, as just after midnight the castles intruder wards began falling, alerting the staff to an attack on the castle. Harry rushed downstairs to the entrance hall where he joined Minerva and Hagrid, both were looking out toward the grounds in fear. Harry could see why, there was a host of black-clad, masked figures, too many to count, standing in a huge semi-circle in front of the school. Their seemingly endless ranks were dotted with a few giants and dragons, they had already breached the grounds and were moving toward the castle. Harry had always known he would have to fight a full scale battle, but he had nothing like the resources to fight this many Death Eaters at once. There was only one sure way that Harry knew he could win, and he was not going to that unless he had no other hope.

"Well I guess tonight's the night." Harry was strangely calm considering what he was up against. He looked almost peaceful for a moment, then the power started to flow into him, not as much as previous occasions, but certainly more then any of them had ever scene elsewhere.

"Harry you aren't thinking of going out there are you?" Minerva sounded down right terrified. "We must abandon the castle and fight another day, the students-"

"Yes get the students out, I'll hold them off. How long do you need?"

"Harry it would take hours to evacuate Hogwarts."

"How about twenty minutes? It's the best I can do at the moment." Their eyes met, and Minerva knew there was no way to talk her former pupil out of this.

"Be careful Harry, none of us wants to be the one to have to tell Ginny your dead."

"I don't plan on dying, but maybe Poppy should be waiting for me just in case?"

"Right, I'll see to it right away, good luck."

Harry didn't even look back as he strode out the doors and towards the center of the black mass attacking his home. He was outnumbered by something a thousand to one, probably more, but he only needed to buy some time. Staying away from the giants and dragons would be the real challenge, the Death Eaters he could handle on his own.

"Well well well, you finally showed up. I was wondering when Voldemort would get the courage to after me. Is he suddenly brave? Or getting dumber?"

Harry was taunting them, trying to draw this out for as long as possible, he needed to buy the others time, but the Death Eaters had other idea's as over thirty varied curses flew toward him. Harry took three steps to the right and cast a powerful shield charm, blocking all but one of the curses, which he easily dodged. Another volley followed the first, this one in the hundreds, but with the same results, then the Death Eaters tried attacking him randomly all at once. This complicated things a little, but Harry was miles ahead of these Death Eaters. He was getting tired, he could this up for a while longer, where it not for the dragons. They had closed in the range and where engaging him as well. It was taking nearly all of his concentration to avoid them, and as a result he was hit with several curses, not badly, but they drew blood and slowed him further. Another cutting curse hit Harry across the back as he dodged a burst of flame, he fell hard to his side, sure he was finished. He could barely move, his wand arm was pinned down, the Death Eaters where closing in around him, when help arrived. Harry had never been so glad to see a Weasley male in his life as Charlie led around fifty dragon riders into the fray. This gave Harry the clear advantage, as Voldemort only had seven dragons. Twenty of Charlie's riders broke off to engage the Death Eater Riders, the rest started reeking pure havoc among the Death Eaters on the ground.

Harry blasted a curse at yet another Death Eater, there seemed to be no end to them, and check his watch. Eleven minutes down. Minerva had said she needed at least twenty, longer if possible. Harry figured he could give her a total of forty minutes or so with the reinforcements. Three more curses, and several physical blows later, Harry began to calculate whether or not he could push to forty minutes, he didn't want to wear himself out too soon, but he was more concerned with the hundreds of students inside the castle then he was with himself. Harry fired two stunners and a Banishing Hex, taking out the three Death Eaters who had been firing curses at Charlie Weasley. That was when things took a turn for the worse. At first Harry thought the Death Eaters were retreating, they had certainly stopped fighting. They were backing up, but in the wrong direction, too late Harry realized that they were forming a semi-circle around him, and clearing a path between him and Lord Voldemort. Harry didn't even hear the spell being cast, and never had a hope of dodging it, Quidditch reflexes aside.


	15. Chapter 15

-1_**A/N: This is it. The big one. The one we've all been waiting for. -Oliver Wood.**_

_**No, really this is it. The climactic chapter of Torn Soul. The final battle. Will Harry and Ginny emerge unscathed? Or will something happen to depress me, I'll play KorN, and one will live while the other dies? Not Voldemort or Harry, but Harry or Ginny? One things for sure, I'm not getting any homework done tonight. Read and review, every review gets a sneak peak at Witch of Destiny, as soon as I start typing it. And I think I'm going to start putting out teasers. Enjoy!!!!**_

Ginny watched, tears in her eyes, as Harry strode forward into the mass of Death Eaters, head held high, proud of what he was doing. He was so bloody noble, it had better not get him killed before he married her. The worst part was that she could not be at his side helping him. She knew deep inside, possibly because of the Heart Bond, that if she joined the fight, Harry would worry about protecting her, not winning the battle. She watched in silent horror as the dragons descended upon him, sure she was about to watch him die, then her heart leapt into her mouth when Charlie and his fellow riders came to Harry's rescue.

She saw what was happening long before Harry did, being so high up had its advantages, one of them being a good deal of warning that Voldemort was making his way towards Harry, and that Harry had no idea he was coming. She tried to communicate mentally with him, as they had been able to do on certain occasions, but they were both too distracted for it to work properly. Ginny took off, sprinting as fast as she could towards the entrance hall, intent on coming to Harry's rescue for once, instead of the other way around. Several people called to her as she flew past, most wanting to know what was going on, and a few trying to stop her, but she paid them no heed. Nothing could stop her getting to Harry now, as the heavy oak doors to the castle learned when she blew them completely off their hinges with a single spell, causing them to land on several Death Eaters. She began casting the first spell she could think off to help Harry, she had no idea how she even knew the spell, let alone how to cast it properly.

Harry was lifted off his feet as the bright gold spell hit him from behind, propelling him several feet into the air, to land a lot closer to Voldemort then he would have liked. He wasn't sure what spell he had been hit with, but it didn't seem to have done any damage, in fact, he felt much better then he had a few minutes ago. He had been tired and sore from battling dragons and Death Eaters, but now he felt relaxed, as if he had just got several hours of fitful sleep, but it was more then that. He could only remember feeling this strong once before, and he had nearly lost Ginny that night, in fact he had lost her, if only temporarily. He shouldn't be feeling like this, not unless…

Harry turned slowly, keeping one eyes on Voldemort, his other eye looking towards the origin of the spell.

His breath caught, panic filled him, he forgot Voldemort and turned both eyes, not really caring about Tom Riddle any more.

_Why her? Why couldn't she just stay inside?_

Ginny Weasley was laying in a break in the half-circle of black, he couldn't tell if she was alive or not, but even if she was, a power transfer spell like that would kill her without aid, fast. Harry's mind raced, he could save Ginny, but Voldemort would certainly kill them both, or he could destroy Voldemort, and probably lose Ginny. Harry hated having to gamble with other peoples lives, but this was one life he couldn't risk. He turned his back fully on Voldemort, prepared to sacrifice himself if it meant Ginny live, when he saw them.

Minerva had apparently not been able to evacuate the school. Hundreds upon hundreds of young faces looked down on him from the castle. Watching him. Waiting for him to save them. And he couldn't do it. He couldn't damn them all so he alone could be happy.

With a deep sigh of resignation, Harry turned yet again, away from the girl he loved, towards the man he hated.

"Hello Tom."

"I've warned you before about calling me that, boy." Voldemort had been watching Harry closely, and now had a very good idea of just how to hurt the boy.

"Shall we cut to the chase? I need to kill you quickly, I've more important things to do." Harry's eyes flickered briefly in Ginny's direction, and Voldemort's followed, a smile playing on his colorless lips.

"Ah yes, I heard about your little bitch, too bad, she is lovely, I think I'll kill her first, I'm sure you want to watch. Or shall I torture her first? Your used to watching your loved ones suffer aren't you Potter?"

Harry didn't even acknowledge Voldemort's words. He just cast his first Killing Curse. The jet of green light flew towards Voldemort, and actually hit him, but with very little effect. Harry had been expecting this, there was not enough human left in Voldemort to die, fortunately Harry had other plans.

"Impressive Potter, despite the stories I didn't think you could actually conjure enough power to kill. Too bad I'm immortal. But she's not." Voldemort turned his wand on Ginny. She was still unconscious and could do nothing to avoid the curse that struck her body. "Avada Kadavra." Harry felt a strange sense of De Ja Vu, not from when Malfoy had tried to kill her, but from his memories of his mothers death. His mother at seventeen and Ginny at sixteen looked very much alike, and, just as with his mother, there wasn't at thing Harry could do to stop the curse. A good thing he had already accounted for this.

Harry Potter was smiling. Actually smiling, and it was no act, for the smile was not limited to his mouth, it had reached his eyes as well. Power welled within him, and he held out his wand in one hand, the tiny Golden Snitch in the other. "I was watching when you killed that old man you know, very informative when watched from a different angle. Did you think I killed Bellatrix for fun?"

For the first time in his life, Tom Riddle looked genially afraid, he had no idea what Potter was talking about, but the tone of his voice would have chilled the blood of any warm-blooded animal, which Voldemort was not. He did the only thing he knew how to do, and that was kill. "Die Potter, Avada Kadevra!" The spell hit Harry head on, not that anyone would have been able to tell. Voldemort tried again, and again, and again, four Killing Curses in rapid succession hit Harry dead on. All with no effect.

Harry's wand was still pointed at Voldemort's chest, as he waved the Snitch teasingly. "You of all people should know better Tom. Might as well just give up. Priori Incantatium!" Voldemort's wand began spewing forth shades of all the spells it had cast, and all the people it had killed. Harry waited for his parents to appear, then broke the spell. As before, the foggy ghosts crowded around Voldemort, distracting him. This was the tricky part, if Harry messed up now, it would all be for nothing, he drew up all the power he could through the Heart Bond, and concentrated all of it into a single Vanishing Charm. One with connected with a still very confused Voldemort. Tom Riddle screamed, realizing what was happening, as, just like his memory in the Chamber of Secrets, he became to come apart, jets of golden light seeming to shoot forth from his body.

At last Tom Riddle, the infamous Lord Voldemort had been defeated.

There would be countless celebrations, even more so then the first time, but Harry didn't attend any of them. He was sitting in the now familiar chair in the hospital wing, next to Ginny's bed, watching her sleep. It had taken him and Madam Pomfry nearly five hours to restore her strength, she had given nearly everything she had to help Harry. And he had to give back just as much. This took some time, as Harry had used so much power in destroying the Dark Lord. But at long last, it seemed Ginny would be alright, and now with the main threat in his life gone, Harry thought he had a chance for a normal life. He already had the ring.

A full seventeen hours later, Ginny began to stir in her bed, the reason being that Harry had fallen asleep, and his head was now resting on her midriff. When she became aware of this, her first thought was she would definitely be getting used to this. Her next was to wonder what had happened, and if Harry had carried out his plan, and destroyed Voldemort. She also wondered what his plan had been, as he had refused to tell even her. But at the moment the only thing that seemed important was getting Harry into bed with her, which proved to be a very easy task.

All the Weasleys, Hermione, Harry, and most of the Hogwarts staff were gathered in the headmasters office, waiting to hear Harry's explanation. When everyone was present and quite, Harry began as he planned to, with something unexpected. Everyone had been expecting this any day, but not now, and certainly not here.

Harry dropped gracefully to one knee, directly in front of Ginny, a small black box open in his hands, revealing a gold engagement ring, with one good sized diamond, surrounded by small rubies.

"Ginervra Molly Weasley, will you marry me?"

If anyone had not been expecting this here and now, it was Ginny. She had figured that Harry would ask her privately, not in front of a large group of people, he hated attention. It took her several minutes to find her voice, but even when she did she could only just squeak out, "Yes!" before it failed her again.

Harry slid the beautiful ring onto her finger, then rose up and embraced her, holding her close. He had done this only a very few times before, just held her tightly without kissing her or anything even remotely intimate taking place. Those were the times when he just wanted her to know that he loved her more then anything else, and this was one of those moments.

Harry and Ginny Potter sat in silence in the car as it made it's was through London. They had been through this twice already, with James and Lily, but that didn't make it any easier. Especially as Brianna had always been closer to her parents then her older brother and sister. James Albus Potter II was already a third year at Hogwarts, as was his twin sister, Lily Potter II, and now their younger sister, Brianna Noel Potter, was starting her first year. James looked exactly like Harry and James I, messy jet black hair, and green eyes, and Lily was the spitting image of her mother, must to Harry's delight. But Brianna was a mix of the two. She had long, black hair, interspersed with natural fiery red highlights, and her mothers soft, warm, chocolate brown eyes. It wasn't that Ginny and Harry loved Brianna any more then their other two, but she had grown closer to her parents. Especially when James and Lily had gone off to school. Sending Brianna away, even under Minerva's expert care, was proving to be very difficult indeed. Harry was just glad in the safe knowledge that nothing could permanently hurt his family, at least no too bad. He hugged his youngest daughter, told her not to listen to anything her siblings told her about Hogwarts, and watched as she followed Lily onto the train.

"Harry are you sure?" Ginny was at his side, looking as nervous as he felt.

"Ginny I've said it a hundred times, nothing can hurt them, I know I cant prove it, but it's true, the same way he couldn't kill you, nothing can kill them. That's just how Horcruxes work, especially when combined with a Heart Bond. Since I made it, and we bonded, we're both protected, and so are our children."

"I sometimes wish you hadn't made it, not that I want to be dead. But it is an act of pure evil, and hate."

"That's why I used the Snitch dear, and act of pure evil, pored into a symbol of true love, my love for you."

Harry took a moment to gaze into his wife's eyes, god he loved her eyes, before Dissaperating them both to Hogsmead. Lily, James, and Brianna would sure be shocked when they learned who their new DADA and Arithmancy Professors were.

_Fin. _

_**A/N: at last! I don't know how much more of that I could have taken. I know the first couple chapters are out of context, with a few loose ends, but to hell with that, I rushed through the ending a little, I'm working hard on Witch of Destiny, coming soon! This was my first real, almost serious fic, I promise Witch of Destiny will be ten times better. Yes, the snitch was a Horcrux, kudo's to our lucky winners, you shall receive your prize via email. And here's a tantalizing tidbit for my other readers. **_

_**A third prophecy? who is the mysterious Witch of Destiny? how can she help Harry against Voldemort? **_

_**is Snape good or bad? Will Sirius ever be free? who's the lucky young witch who finally captures **_

_**Harry's heart? the answers to these questions and more await inside. Harry/? you thought I was going to**_

_**ruin the surprise?**_

_**What's that? Who said I was a cold hearted monster? Alright I'm sorry already. Just remember fierce redheads, I may not have black hair and green eyes, but I am stubborn, noble, and trouble does seem to find me. Scares are negotiable. **_


End file.
